# 162 vol XXXIX SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 ENGLISH EDITION

TIME TO THINK AND ACTIdeas and projects that help realize the dream of harmonious coexistence between people and nature

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Online edition Online archive

> Focused on springs and riparian forests, the Forest Factory program helps restore areas of Atlantic Forest on the North Coast of Bahia and is being replicated in Rio de Janeiro.

> Co-sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Creer (Believe) professional education program is offering better job prospects to residents of the Huánuco region in Peru.

> One highlight of the projects in Rio de Janeiro that are preparing the city to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics is the TransOeste expressway, which is already easing traffic jams.

> Residents of Luanda are learning new ways to improve public health through environmental projects.

> Access all back issues of Odebrecht Informa since no. 1, and download full issues in PDF.

> Odebrecht Annual Reports since 2002.

> Special publications (Special Issue on Social Programs, 60 years of the Odebrecht Group, 40 Years of the Odebrecht Foundation and 10 Years of Odeprev).

www.odebrechtonline.com.br

> You can read this entire issue in HTML and PDF

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Video reports Blog

> The Pedra Preta Archaeological Site in Mato Grosso do Sul will be open to visitors.

> The radio livens up the workday of Odebrecht members building the Teles Pires hydroelectric plant.

> At the age of 75, a seasoned farmer finds motivation in new ideas and work methods.

www.odebrechtonline.com.br > Online edition of Odebrecht Informa.> Reports, features, videos, photos, animations and infographics.

> On the Palomino Hydroelectric Plant project in the Dominican Republic, environmental projects cover several fronts, including support for the demarcation of Haitises National Park, an area rich in birds and caves.

> Saving drinking water and treating sewage. These are the goals of the Aquapolo Project, an unprecedented initiative in Brazil that supplies reclaimed water to the ABC Paulista Petrochemical Complex.

> Alagoas municipalities benefit from the expansion of a professional education program and investments in an Atlantic Forest preserve.

> AN ARENA FOR THREE PASSIONS

World Cup City: the Pernambuco Arena will leave an urban legacy for Náutico, Santa Cruz and Sport soccer club fans

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#162In Mozambique, a construction site where the protection of wildlife and productivity coexist harmoniously

Sergio Leão and Alexandre Baltar, and the importance of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Management indicators

Caroline de Azevedo and a project whose core is synergy between the company and the community

In Panama, a decisive foray into the preservation of mangroves and their extraordinarily rich biodiversity

Dominican Republic: projects in different sectors pave the way towards a sustainable future

Folks: João Borba, Eduardo Poley and Gabriel Saúde, and how they show their love for the places where they live

Lagoa Viva Green Belt: two initiatives in Alagoas become symbols of sustainability

Interview: Augusto Roque, Rogério Ibrahim and Saulo Nunes discuss how Odebrecht’s social/environmental projects set the Group apart

A project planned and executed to be sustainable in every aspect: Santo Antônio, in Rondônia, Brazil

The past, present and future come together in the construction of the Baixo Sabor Dam in Portugal

Chaglla: in the strip between the Andes and the rain forest, an exemplary preservation project arises in Peru

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Cover: Odebrecht member with bird from the region where the Chaglla hydroelectric plant is under construction in Huánuco, Peru. Photo by Bruna Romaro

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ENVIRONMENT46

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In Sauípe, on the North Coast of Bahia, measures are taken to ensure the conservation of a complex environmental context

Aquapolo Project: a benchmark for reclaiming water for industrial purposes and a symbol of entrepreneurial cross-cutting operations

Firefighters: meet some of the professionals who take care of prevention and safety at ETH’s agroindustrial units

Around the world, Petrobras revamps assets to adapt them to more stringent safety and public health requirements

Highway concessionaires help disseminate a culture of respect for the environment

Program held at the Odebrecht Building in Salvador, Bahia helps turn minor habits into significant moves

Embraport Terminal in Santos: innovative measures ensure a more rational and productive approach to water use

Savvy: a leader passionate about training people, Antonio Carlos Daiha Blando highlights the lessons he has learned in his career

Greater Porto Alegre provides confirmation of the close relationship between decent housing and respect for the environment

The rehabilitation of Sepetiba Beach gives back to the community one of the most scenic areas in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro

Environmental awareness is changing communities’ lives in the metropolitan region of Luanda, Angola

The reclamation of parts of the Atlantic Forest and conservation of springs mobilizes residents of the Southern Bahia Lowlands

The map shows the countries and Brazilian states (in white) where the projects and programs described in this issue of Odebrecht Informa are located, and where the people who feature in these stories live and work

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EDITORIAL

A respectful relationship

n Tete Province, Mozambique, they are taking every precaution to en-sure that all kinds of wildlife are protected, and the works in progress in the region do not change their way of life. In the Dominican Republic, we are seeing examples of how a country can achieve balance by invest-

ing heavily in its development while ensuring environmental sustainability. Huánuco, Peru, is now the site of a pioneering project to rescue local plant and animal life. In the metropolitan area of Luanda, Angola, we find further confirmation of the close and decisive relationship between decent housing and environmental conservation. In the Brazilian states of Pernambuco, Ba-hia and São Paulo, the communities living near roadways run as concessions are the main beneficiaries of programs that make it clear that people need (and want!) to become directly responsible for their own quality of life and the protection of the environment.

These are just a few examples of the activities that you will see reported on and analyzed in this issue of Odebrecht Informa, which deals with the day-to-day relationship between the Group’s businesses and the environment. You will see how Odebrecht teams deal with environmental issues at construc-tion sites, industrial units and offices in Brazil and other countries.

To build major projects like dams, roads and water and sewer systems, and carry out complex operations like the production of thermoplastic res-ins and ethanol, a broad range of projects must be implemented to mitigate impacts and ensure the rational use of natural resources. The conservation of the environment, plant and animal life, and biodiversity must be part of the business - and this concept is understood and applied in every project in which Odebrecht participates. It is not just about compliance with the law, no matter how strict it may be. It is about going further, doing more than required, investing in consistent and advanced initiatives, and conducting pioneering research and studies that become national and even interna-tional benchmarks.

Odebrecht has set itself the challenge of being recognized as a “green company” that is committed to creating and providing an environmental legacy for the people living within the spheres of influence of its engineer-ing and construction projects and industrial operations. The main pillar of this legacy is the concept of inclusion: it is essential for communities to get involved in the process of environmental improvement so their members participate directly in maintaining, improving and multiplying the changes being made and the benefits achieved.

Good reading.

“Odebrecht has set itself the challenge

of being recognized as a ‘green company’

that is committed to creating and

providing an environmental legacy

for the people living within the spheres

of influence of its engineering and

construction projects and industrial

operations”

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LIFE IS coexistence

written by Cláudio lovato Filho photos by holanda CavalCanti

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LIFE IS coexistence Work on the Moatize Coal Project

in Mozambique involves the day-to-day relationship between workers, wildlife and riverside communities

Hippos in the Zambeze River: this scene, which amazes visitors, is part of daily life for members working on the Moatize Coal Project

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s it approaches the family of hippos

in the middle of the Zambezi River,

the small boat slows down, and the

outboard motor goes off. The two en-

gineers on board are not surprised.

They just enjoy the scene. But for the Odebrecht In-

forma team, it is very far from being a common sight.

“There are eight,” says the reporter. Then he corrects

himself: “No, there are nine.” “One day I counted 11,”

says one of the engineers. The hippos pile up on each

other, dive and then emerge almost

entirely from the water, like breaching

whales. This is Africa, with its inex-

haustible capacity for fascination. The

outboard motor starts up again and

the boat moves away from the family,

which carries on enjoying the morning

sun in the middle of the river.

We are headed for an island in the Zambezi River.

A project that has been carried out there might sym-

bolize, with the greatest intensity and accuracy, the

strategy of environmental conservation implemented

on the Moatize Coal Project. Underway since June

2008 in Tete Province, Mozambique, in February 2012

it embarked on its second stage, which will double the

mine’s production capacity.

We’ve landed. The island is actually a large sand

bank, 1,800 m long and 1,200 m wide. Four transmis-

sion towers have been installed there to carry power

to the jobsite, which is served by 36 substations. André

Canoas, the Odebrecht officer Responsible for Pro-

duction on this project, and Leonardo Hellstrom, from

the company’s Health, Safety and Environment team,

are the engineers who were on the boat along with the

magazine’s reporter and photographer. Right there on

the riverbank, they meet up with two other Odebrecht

engineers, Joaquim Carvalho and Flávio Macaringue,

and construction supervisors Walter Gomes and Lino

Paulino Mucumbe. There is still some

work to be done on the island. They

have to protect the foundations of one

of the towers. It is no small challenge,

because the soil is very unstable. The

team is planting the island with native

vegetation. It is a contribution that the

people who tend small plots of corn,

peanuts and other products there are awaiting with

great anticipation. Soon, the island will be more than

just a sandbar.

André and Leonardo introduce the magazine’s

team to Abílio Sinosse. He has spent 35 years at

the Ministry of Agriculture of Mozambique, work-

ing as a wildlife inspector. Since 2010, he has been

tasked with protecting the professionals working on

the project. Abílio, 57, is always the first to arrive on

the island and the last to leave. He keeps a close eye

Sérgio Silveira: planos de remar até os 75 anos

A

Team members landing next to one of the transmission towers installed on the island: the area

is being planted with native vegetation

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on the movements of crocodiles, hippos and snakes,

and drives them away if necessary. “My job is to pro-

tect people and wildlife; to look after both sides. I’m

the man in the middle.” No one is allowed to kill ani-

mals in any part of the construction site, not even a

snake or a spider.

The hippo family we saw in the river lives on the

island. Its members head for the water at around

5:30 am and return to the island later in the day.

Their movements are top priority. Work stops so

they can move about freely. “The entire production

strategy comes second to caring for the environ-

ment,” says Flávio Macaringue, 31, who was born in

Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. “The work done

here on the island has been a tremendous learning

experience,” says André Canoas, a Brazilian from

São Paulo.

The environmental conservation work being done

on the island has become an icon and a benchmark,

but it is just one chapter, albeit a prominent one, in

the context of the initiatives that were undertaken

during the implementation of the Moatize Coal Proj-

ect and are now being implemented during its expan-

sion. Everything that can be done is being done to

take (and exceed where possible) the usual precau-

tions for a mining operation carried out by Vale, the

client for this project.

One of the biggest mines in AfricaThe Moatize district of Tete, the capital of the prov-

ince of the same name, is home to one of Africa’s

largest coal mines, for which Vale has obtained the

development rights. The coal extracted from the mine

is thermal and metallurgical, the most valuable type,

which is used in the steel industry. The mine’s produc-

tion capacity was initially estimated to be 11 million

metric tons. Once the plant’s expansion is completed,

production will double. Mined in a 200-square-kilome-

ter area, the coal is currently processed at an indus-

trial facility that required 130,000 cu.m of concrete to

build. The coal is exported from Mozambique through

the port of Beira, where it arrives in trains. All this be-

came a reality through an Alliance Contract between

Vale and Odebrecht.

Deploying and operating a project of this magni-

tude requires a commitment to sustainability. During

its visit to the construction site, the Odebrecht Informa

team observed the commitment of all members of

the project, regardless of their program or where they

work – at the work fronts, in offices, in the cafeteria or

in the workers’ accommodations.

Water trucks constantly circulate around the job-

site to damp down dust and ensure air quality. En-

vironmental inspections are conducted daily and, if

necessary, result in corrective measures. Campaigns

Family of river dwellers (with Rosário Roice to the right in the foreground) who are benefiting from social/environmental projects: hope of better opportunities ahead

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and lectures on water conservation, efficient electric-

ity use, and waste management, among other topics,

are carried out at all work fronts. The neighboring

communities benefit from social and environmental

programs, and seedlings of native species are planted

and distributed. Part of the Ongoing Professional Edu-

cation Program – Acreditar (Believe), the module on

the Environment makes a major contribution to edu-

cating people on the subject. Anywhere you go in the

jobsite, selective waste collection is encouraged (with

detailed instructions). It is equipped with a Wastewa-

ter Treatment Plant (WTP) and a landfill. The project

currently employs about 7,000 people directly. There

are more than 1,700 professionals working for Vale,

and 1,300 for Odebrecht, as well as both companies’

subcontractors. At the peak of the expansion works,

8,500 professionals will be actively involved in the proj-

ect – a jobsite with the population of a town.

Eighty-five percent of the people in the workforce are

currently Mozambican, but even those who come from

elsewhere know that the local communities’ relation-

ship with nature is transcendental. Their

religious beliefs are very strong, and it is

important to understand their customs and

traditions. Residents of the area near the

jobsite, especially the families who live on

the banks of the Zambezi, understand that

the projects in the vicinity, including the Moatize Project,

are bringing benefits to their historically poor region.

When the Odebrecht Informa team visited Tete in

mid-August, a prolonged drought was threatening to

ruin the harvests and causing tremendous concern.

Rosário Abílio Roice, 36, a resident of the riverside

Chivur community, welcomes the works being carried

out in Moatize. “They mean more development for our

country. Now we have more roads, more power, and

all this while respecting the environment, animals and

vegetation.”

Roberto Salvador Reis, the Odebrecht officer Re-

sponsible for Health, Safety and Environment, says:

“We have already achieved important victories, but

much remains to be done. For example, we want to

deploy a recycling cooperative in the Moatize district,

with a sorting plant that will be operated and managed

by community members.” Colbert Nascimento, Vale’s

Health, Safety and Environment Leader for the proj-

ect, adds: “We’re going leave behind a legacy of social

and environmental sustainability.”

Equipment that is part of the industrial structure for processing coal. In the smaller photo, the Sewage Treatment Plant: conducting environmental inspections every day

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STRICTcontrolsOdebrecht’s Engineering & Construction companies complete their second Annual GHG Emissions Inventory

lexandre Baltar is the officer Re-

sponsible for the Climate Change

area of the Odebrecht Sustainability

Program run by Sérgio Leão. In Au-

gust, on a dry Southern-Hemisphere

winter afternoon in São Paulo, both men set aside a

few hours of their time to provide Odebrecht Informa

with Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Management indicators

for the Group’s Engineering & Construction compa-

nies, which recently concluded their second Annual

GHG Emissions Inventory, Base Year 2011. “Having

learned all about emission processes [during the

first inventory], we now face a different and even big-

ger challenge: setting goals for achieving more ef-

ficiency in controlling these emissions,” says Baltar.

However obvious this may seem to a layman on

the subject, the Baltar’s observation does even come

close to covering the typical challenges faced by an

industry whose main features include mobility and

Aadaptability. This is because, unlike businesses and

industries that have fixed production plants, in the

Engineering & Construction business each project

has a relatively short cycle, from beginning to end,

which makes it hard to conduct comparative analy-

ses of the same situation over the years.

written by EmanuElla Sombra photo by riCardo tEllES

Sergio Leão (left) and Alexandre Baltar: the aim is to set practical examples for reducing CO2 emissions

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However, this is not the only complex aspect of the

challenge. “Each project has its own peculiarities. A

road built in a flat region requires different production

processes from another road built in rugged terrain.

And, of course, both will generate different environ-

mental impacts,” says Baltar. He explains that, like

the first, the second Annual GHG Emissions Inven-

tory is serving as a parameter for Group members to

determine the goals that should be prioritized, and

how to adapt them to the different regions and coun-

tries where the organization operates.

Major emittersOne of these goals is to improve the methods

used to control fuel consumption and utilize “green-

er” cement and steel. According to the inventory, al-

together, these raw materials directly or indirectly

accounted for 83.6% of greenhouse gases released

into the atmosphere in 2011. At the top of the list,

fuels and lubricants consumed by approximately

27,000 pieces of equipment used at the jobsites pro-

duced 34.3% of the total greenhouse gas emissions.

Cement (29.3%) and steel (20%) consumption came

right behind.

Baltar explains that even when a given activ-

ity has a small impact, its viability should be as-

sessed, because it helps change people’s attitudes

and can produce other benefits. For example, air

travel represents just 2.7% of the emissions in-

ventory. Although it is a comparably small figure,

the need to fly is constantly called into question.

“We usually encourage people to ask themselves:

instead of traveling, wouldn’t it be possible to re-

solve the matter through a teleconference, for ex-

ample?” Baltar observes.

Encouraging these types of questions benefits

the environment and the company, which ends up

reducing the cost of its operations. Consequently, it

disseminates the culture of sustainability among its

members, who working on ways of saving resources

in a decentralized, active and ongoing fashion. Ac-

cording to Sérgio Leão: “We should recall that the

quality of our operations must be maintained in ev-

ery situation. Therefore, it is essential to think about

contextualized sustainability everywhere where we

operate. It cannot be something that is brought in

from the outside.”

Sérgio’s observation reflects the Group’s Engi-

neering & Construction companies’ constant ef-

forts to gain an understanding of the context of each

project. This can be seen by observing the number

of projects and regions covered in the inventory. All

told, it has evaluated 135 contracts in an operation

that involved 14 countries where the Group is pres-

ent, including Brazil. About 850 members directly

participated in the survey.

Santo Antônio, Palomino and ChagllaThis concern is already being transformed into

action. One project is being carried out at the

jobsite for the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant

in Rondônia, Brazil. The planning of the jobsite

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spared 291 hectares from deforestation, out of

a total of 1,108 ha whose clearing had been au-

thorized by IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental

agency. This initiative resulted in 26% savings in

the cost of deforestation for the project and a re-

duction of 206,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions,

an amount that corresponds to approximately 40%

of all emissions from burning fossil fuels over the

course of the construction project.

“As Rio+20 demonstrated, companies have be-

come leading players in this process. The nations

represented there have established that they will

reach an agreement on goals by 2015, and in the

meantime, businesses need to do their homework;

to influence others,” argues Sérgio Leão, who, like

Baltar and other leaders attended the UN confer-

ence last June. “The construction industry involves

a supply chain of associated companies that work

in the delivery of products. What we are doing here

impacts that entire chain.”

Some decisions, such as choosing suppliers that

produce cement with lower emissions, and optimiz-

ing waste transport at the jobsites, end up making

the difference in controlling these emissions. Oth-

ers, such as the sale of carbon credits, benefit the

client and the community in which the project is lo-

cated, since they generate resources and can help

finance social projects. This was the case with the

Palomino hydroelectric plant in the Dominican Re-

public, which is expected to generate about 120,000

metric tons of CO2 in carbon credits annually.

In addition to Palomino, another plan to sell

carbon credits has been developed at the Chaglla

hydroelectric plant in Peru, which is expected to

generate 1.8 million metric tons of CO2 per year in

carbon credits. When it receives approval from the

Peruvian government and the UN, Chaglla should

be the fourth largest among more than 1,200 hy-

dropower projects already approved, adding value to

Odebrecht Energia’s business.

The purpose of the carbon market is to help

achieve the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, which went

into effect in 2005, setting limits on greenhouse gas

emissions. Since then, it has gained importance in

the sustainable development agenda. In 2009, Ode-

brecht Engineering & Construction and 26 other

companies signed the Open Letter to Brazil on Cli-

mate Change, which contains a number of voluntary

commitments to reducing environmental impacts

and presents proposals to the Federal Government

on that issue.

“One of the challenges facing Brazil is to estab-

lish alliances and a governance model for sustain-

able development that involves more than sporadic

and temporary measures,” says Sérgio Leão. Ac-

cording to Sérgio and Alexandre Baltar, the com-

pletion of the second Annual Inventory is just the

beginning of a process aimed at carrying out the

measures being developed at the jobsites. “This is

our objective: to set a practical example that is in

line with the specific characteristics of Engineering

& Construction,” says Baltar.

The Palomino hydroelectric plant in the Dominican Republic: sales of carbon credits will help finance social outreach projects

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The pleasure of collective achievementsResponsible for sustainability projects at EPP, Caroline bases her work on the constant pursuit of partnership with the community

PROFILE: Caroline Todt de Azevedo

er car has got stuck in mud

again, but Caroline Todt de

Azevedo is used to it. As

the Sustainability Manager at the

Estaleiro Enseada do Paraguaçu

(EEP) company, she does essential

work with residents of the town of

Maragojipe in the Recôncavo Baia-

no (the fertile bay region near Sal-

vador, Bahia), where Odebrecht is

building a shipyard in partnership

with UTC Engenharia, OAS and

Kawasaki. Better known as Carol,

she believes that people are the

driving force for the development

of the region and its ecosystems.

“Sustainability results from over-

coming barriers by working direct-

ly with communities, and sharing

common goals,” she argues.

In addition to her work at EEP,

Carol chairs the Social/Environ-

mental Working Group that is part

of the Odebrecht Knowledge Com-

munity on Sustainability. Created in

April of last year, the group plans to

gather and systemize projects and

measures related to that subject

carried out within the organization.

“We worked for a year to produce

the Good Practices Handbook. It

contains successful cases from

different businesses that serve

as a handy reference guide for all

companies and can be replicated

by anyone,” she observes.

Nearly 300 members attend-

ed the launch of the publication,

which took place in Panama in

April. “When organizing this event,

the group decided to minimize the

format of talks by big names in the

industry and opted to engage in

two and a half days of work,” says

Carol. According to her, this meth-

od was successful. “Each mem-

ber signed up for a topic that they

felt needed the most work in their

project or company, applying what

they experienced at the meeting to

their line of work as systematically

as possible.”

“The Environmental Group’s

most important task is to provide

the tools that members need to

go beyond the realm of ideas and

transform sustainability into a

work tool that is always present

on a project,” says Carol, adding:

“Sustainability is not just about

preservation. It’s also about ef-

fecting local development with

the community’s active participa-

tion, and should be viewed as an

integral part of any business. And

the Knowledge Community is the

main agent for disseminating our

Sustainability Policy until it’s in the

written by Júlio CéSar SoarES photo by arthur ikiShima

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The pleasure of collective achievements

Group’s blood, and that also goes

for the Action Plan and each and

every leader.”

The daughter of a Brazilian

mother from Pernambuco and a

German father, and herself the

mother of two, Caroline, 44, was

born in the city of Salvador. This

is her first challenge at Ode-

brecht, but she has already built

up an accomplished track record

during several years of experi-

ence at companies like Ford and

Petrobras. “I think that was a fac-

tor that led to my being elected

group leader: the experience I’ve

acquired at companies that, just

like Odebrecht, maintain rigorous

protocols on this subject and ad-

vocate a strong policy of sustain-

ability,” she says.

After graduating in Biology

from the Federal University at Ba-

hia (UFBA), Carol studied Molecu-

lar Biology at the Oswaldo Cruz

Foundation (Fiocruz), and earned

a Master’s degree in Sustainable

Development from the University

of Brasilia (UNB). She observes

that seemingly unrelated subjects

like those she focused on in her

academic career are more closely

linked than you might think. “The

broader and more diverse your pro-

fessional background is, the broad-

er your vision and the greater your

understanding of the complexity of

a project will be,” she argues.

Rossival Manuel da Silva, a res-

ident of Enseada do Paraguaçu,

a former maroon community lo-

cated in the vicinity of the project,

manages to get Carol’s car un-

stuck with the help of another lo-

cal resident. She thanks them and

reflects on her difficult commute

to the shipyard. “I take the ferry

from Salvador to Itaparica [Island].

Then I drive to Maragojipe for an

hour and a half on muddy tracks

and bad roads. However, confirm-

ing the potential of the work we

are doing to bring about integrated

local development in this region

inspires me to get up willing and

ready to embrace this challenge,”

Carol guarantees.

Carlos José: “Toda obra tem começo, meio e fim, mas esta aqui é permanente”

“Sustainability should be viewed as

an integral part of any business”

Caroline Azevedo: people from the community are the driving force for sustainable development

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PROTECTING THE

mangroveswritten by Zoraida Chong photos by Pablo de leon

18Panama City will be the first Latin American capital to have a Metropolitan Mangrove ParkObservation deck built by Odebrecht in the Juan Díaz Mangrove: while enjoying the biodiversity, people are sensitized about the importance of the mangrove and its preservation

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mangroveswritten by Zoraida Chong photos by Pablo de leon

very year, more than 2 million migratory birds - mainly shorebirds – arrive in Pa-

nama Bay, headed for a mangrove called Manglar de Juan Díaz. The birds put on a

show, alongside the spectacular sight of crabs scuttling along the shore in search

of food when the tide is low. The huge variety of marine animals that reproduce

in this important natural habitat attracts the birds year after year. The biodiversity

of the Juan Díaz Mangrove is so rich that, in 2003, it was recognized as an area of international

importance by the Ramsar Convention, a treaty signed by 162 countries that seeks to preserve

the planet’s wetlands.

Nevertheless, the environmental, scientific and scenic treasures of the Juan Díaz Mangrove

coexist with human activity that is often harmful. The rising tide sweeps all kinds of refuse

among the mangrove trees: we can see plastic bottles, household appliances, shoes, and many

other items that were improperly discarded at some point. Even worse, when the tide goes out,

the debris will stay and sink into the marshy soil, making the landscape a veritable sea of mud

and garbage.

In this context, Odebrecht has found an opportunity to help raise the public’s awareness of

the importance of wetlands and the need for civic participation in their conservation: Juan Díaz

Mangrove Park.

Enjoying biodiversityThe Juan Díaz Mangrove is a protected area located right next to the Wastewater Treatment

Plant (PTAR) in the Panamanian capital, an important project being implemented by Odebrecht

that will prevent the long-term pollution of rivers in the city and Panama Bay.

One of the compensation measures included in the Environmental Impact Study for the

plant was building an observation deck for migratory birds, which will allow visitors to enjoy

the area’s biodiversity.

“The plant’s location has brought about an opportunity to go beyond the established environ-

mental obligations and use this platform to develop a more comprehensive initiative,” explains

Afranio Oliveira, the Project Director for the Panama Bay Clean-Up Project.

A Strategic Plan has been activated to bring partners together in the struggle to preserve the

Juan Díaz Mangrove. On April 22 of this year (Earth Day), Anada Tiega, Secretary General of the

Ramsar Convention, visited the mangrove and got a close look at the first Metropolitan Wetlands

Park ever established in a major Latin American city.

As a result of her visit, Anada Tiega invited Odebrecht to give a presentation on the concept

for the project at the 11th Conference of Parties in Bucharest in July. “This is an opportunity to

analyze the consolidation of wetlands conservation and urban management. Moreover, we must

underscore that this voluntary initiative comes from a company that has focused on the protec-

tion of the mangroves,” says Anada Tiega.

Ligia Castro, the Environment executive at the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF),

has also seen the results of the initiative for herself, and she is optimistic. “Today, more com-

panies are doing the right thing. They are incorporating environmental externalities and com-

mitted to their social and environmental responsibility to improving areas in the vicinity of

their projects.”

Francisco Martins, the Odebrecht Panama officer Responsible for Sustainability, is in charge

of the presentation at the Bucharest conference. He observes: “The few minutes that it took to

present the Mangrove Park project were enough to attract the attention of professionals from

the other side of the planet, including leading technicians, managers and others who are doing

outstanding work around the world to ensure the preservation of wetlands.”

E

20 informa

THE ART OF GOODsense

written by João marCondES photos by GEraldo pEStalozzi

20The Dominican Republic is building projects that are essential for the nation’s development while keeping a close eye on environmental conservation

Maria del Carmen Piña: bringing lessons about the environment into the classroom

21informa

aria del Carmen Piña, 48, is a

highly respected member of the

community in Boechío, a town of

about 4,000 in San Juan Province,

Dominican Republic. This esteem

was not earned with hard words and stern looks. She

is admired for her generous smile, and wise, sweet

words like: “When teaching, you mustn’t be harsh.

You must be tender.”

Maria del Carmen’s name rarely rings a bell. But

just mention her nickname, Morena, and everyone

says: “Oh yes, I know her well!” Morena is a primary

school teacher. With her students, aged between

5 and 12, she implements a modern educational

concept from the green perspective: cross-cutting.

In other words, teaching environmental education

through the regular curriculum. How about mea-

suring the area of devastated forest in math class?

Or writing an essay about “Native Species of the Do-

minican Republic”?

Outside class, students and local residents are

encouraged to change their habits to ensure the sus-

tainability of the lush environment that surrounds

them. “Did you know that people have been burn-

ing trash in their backyards since Columbus’s day?”

jokes Morena.

The Amerindians who lived in the Dominican Re-

public when Columbus arrived in that country (and

the Americas) in 1492 may not have engaged in such

a disastrous practice. But it has been commonplace

in local households for centuries. However, all that is

changing now thanks to new ideas – thinking “green.”

Residents are also learning about selective trash col-

lection, biodegradable alternatives to chemical de-

tergents, botany and the relationship between people

and the environment.

To ensure that environmental education reaches

the widest possible audience, Odebrecht has spon-

sored a training program for 38 local teachers. The

project is accredited by Madre y Maestra Pontifical

Catholic University and the Sur Futuro Foundation.

Palomino hydroelectric plantBoechío is located next to a project that is of the

utmost importance to the Dominican Republic’s sus-

tainable future: the Palomino Hydroelectric Plant (80

MW), which began operations on August 11, 2012. In

addition to supplying energy to a country that badly

needs it, Palomino represents a major paradigm

shift: it is the first public project in the Dominican

Republic to be approved as a Clean Development

Mechanism (CDM).

Palomino is recognized as a “green project” be-

cause it will generate carbon credits and offset pol-

luting emissions around the world. It is the first in-

ternational project Odebrecht has built under this

M

Palomino hydroelectric plant: recognized as a “green project,” it is Odebrecht’s first international project to be classified as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

22 informa

system. To adapt the project to that market, it had

to be registered with the United Nations and comply

with a number of sustainability requirements set by

the Kyoto Protocol (1997).

Fossil fuels are a predominant part of the Domini-

can Republic’s energy mix. About 85% of the coun-

try’s energy comes from coal, gas and other types of

fuel. It does not produce oil, and almost everything

is imported. The result: a daily energy deficit of 23%

(of demand).

Thanks to the energy Palomino generates, the

DR will stop importing 440,000 barrels of oil and

producing 120,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. It is

these figures that make the project a CDM. With the

credits it will sell on the carbon market, the country

will bring in about USD 700,000 per year over a 21-

year period.

“What sets this project apart is that 65% of the

credits will be invested in environmental projects,”

says Palomino Project Director Pedro Schettino, who

is clearly pleased with that prospect. The fact that the

money will be reinvested in environmental and social

projects makes carbon credits an even more valuable

(and liquid) asset. “The CDM rating has made the

project more profitable for the Dominican Republic,”

says Victor Ventura, the former President of EGE-

HID (the Dominican Hydroelectric Power Generation

Company), which intends to invest the carbon credits

in planting four million trees, as well as developing

projects that will enable rural workers to farm their

land in a more environmentally sustainable way. Pal-

omino will also increase the country’s hydroelectric

potential by 15%.

Miches HighwayWorking in a 15-square-meter cubicle, Norma-

linda Cueva once made her living cutting hair in

a modest salon in El Cedro, a rural community of

4,000 inhabitants. Three years ago, she decided to

join a Dominican Republic government project, quit

her job and devoted herself to tending to a commu-

nity plant nursery.

With few resources, the project was on its last

legs. The seedlings were tangled up in the jungle

growth that had taken over the nursery. That is, un-

til an Odebrecht team saw a sign saying “El Cedro

Association of Organic Nursery Growers.” With the

support of the team building the Miches Highway,

the nursery has grown like a beanstalk. Completely

rebuilt, it is now equipped with a modern irrigation

system. Periodically, two agronomists visit the facil-

ity and teach local residents to work the land. In just

three months, the number of seedlings has shot up

from 3,000 to 10,000. All of them are sold to the Mi-

23informa

ches Highway project, which will use them to replant

the slopes alongside the road.

“The most important thing is that Odebrecht has

taught us the importance of sustainability. Now we

feel like entrepreneurs, and we are looking forward

to the major customers we will have once the high-

way is up and running, three years from now,” says

Normalinda, 33, the President of the Association.

And customers will definitely come. The 110-km

highway will run through an important tourist region

of the country, which includes the towns of Bávaro,

Uvero Alto, Miches and Sabana de la Mar, in the

northeast of the country. The region contains 65% of

all hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic.

The legacy will be a “green company” focused

on environmental conservation. The recently in-

stalled jobsite and accommodations for the Mich-

es project are a model of sustainability that should

be followed throughout the country. In the “green

camp,” as the jobsite accommodations are called,

all outside lighting is powered by solar energy. The

cost of that lighting over the course of the three-

year project will total USD 115,000, and produce

zero carbon emissions. If conventional lighting

had been used, it would require a 20kW diesel

generator and 450W sodium vapor lamps. The to-

tal cost would be USD 118,000. What’s worse, it

The village of El Cedro: growing along with the country

Solar panels used to generate clean energy: new habits at the jobsites

The nursery growing seedlings for reforestation: with Odebrecht’s support, production has shot up from 3,000 to 10,000 seedlings

24 informa

would also generate 68 metric tons of CO2 emis-

sions per year.

Sustainability is not just eco-friendly. It is people-

friendly too. The “green camp” will leave another

legacy for the communities: 56 solar panels and LED

lamps will be donated to schools and public health

clinics along the highway. Local residents will be

trained to use the system.

Another step forward is recycling water in two

stages. First, water from bathroom faucets is di-

rected to the toilets. Rainwater is also collected and

stored in tanks and pumped (with solar power) to

the equipment yard, where it will be used to wash

vehicles and for other purposes. Just two days of

rainfall can yield up to 40,000 liters of water. “We

have observed that this is a region with plenty of

sunshine and lots of rain, so we developed this proj-

ect, which benefits the environment and our bottom

line,” observes Rodrigo Médicis, the officer Respon-

sible for Production.

This concept can be seen in action throughout

the construction site. Through a technology that

is still under-utilized on jobsites – water hydro-

lysis (splitting molecules) – hydrogen is injected

into the fuel used in all engines, thereby reduc-

ing pollution. This system reduces energy costs

by 15% and prevents emissions of 330 metric tons

of CO2 per year. “I had seen it on paper but never

put into practice, like we’ve done here,” says Do-

minican engineer Leonardo Ogando, the officer

Responsible for Industrial Plants. “This jobsite is

so successful that from now on it will be a bench-

mark and guideline,” guarantees Marco Cruz, the

Odebrecht CEO for the Dominican Republic.

Coral HighwayOdebrecht has been present in the DR for 10 years,

building aqueducts, dams, roads and roadworks. One

of these projects is the Coral Highway, which the Min-

ister of Tourism, Francisco Javier Garcia, has called a

“masterpiece of landscaping.” Leonel Fernández Rey-

na, then President of the Dominican Republic, attended

the opening ceremony for the highway on August 8, and

noted: “It is an unprecedented project for this country.”

Former President Fernández called the 70-km

highway “strategic” because it connects roughly 65%

of the country’s hotels in an area that is highly popu-

lar with tourists. This new project has established

a closer link between the nation’s historic capital,

Santo Domingo, and the Punta Cana tourist region.

Tourism accounts for 22% of GDP and 19% of jobs.

The environmentally friendly Coral Highway project

was built in areas previously occupied by sugar plan-

tations and pasturelands. It also benefits residents of

towns like Higuey, which used to suffer from the heavy

traffic that passed through it. The large numbers of

cars and trucks caused noise pollution and gave off

carbon emissions. Now that about 13,000 vehicles

per day have been diverted from the town to the Cor-

al Highway, local residents can finally enjoy a better

quality of life and breathe cleaner air. “All our projects

here, without exception, bear the hallmark of sustain-

ability,” says Marco Cruz. “Both for people and the en-

vironment.”

Official opening of the Coral Highway: linking the nation’s capital, Santo Domingo, and Punta Cana, a major tourist region. From left, Monsignor Nicanor Peña Rodríguez, Bishop of Altagracia; Franscisco Javier García, Minister of Tourism; Victor Días Rúa, then Minister of Public Works and Communications (foreground); Marcelo Odebrecht, President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A.; former President Leonel Fernández Reyna; Marco Cruz and (behind him) Project Director Juvenalito Gusmão

25informa

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Multiplier for TEO

abriel Saúde is looking forward to the end of the

year, when he will receive his medal for 10 years

of work at Odebrecht. An Angolan from Kwanza Norte

Province, Gabriel migrated to Luanda at the age of 42.

Like many people, he was seeking safety there in a time

of armed conflict. He arrived in the Angolan capital in

1986 and began making and selling wooden furniture at

craft fairs. He joined Odebrecht as an assistant carpen-

ter, but soon acquired more job skills and progressed

in the company. He became a carpentry supervisor and

leader, poured concrete, and took charge of tasks in-

volved in project delivery (finishing and cleaning). Today

he is teaching the basic module of the Acreditar (Believe)

Ongoing Professional Education Program. He proudly

relates that he represented the program’s team at the

presentation of the Odebrecht Group’s Highlight Award

in Sauípe, Brazil, last year. “I’m a multiplier of the Ode-

brecht Entrepreneurial Technology,” he says.

Gabriel and the satisfaction of being an educator in Angola’s Acreditar program

Outside the curve

ngineer Eduardo Poley Peçanha is 35 years old and has worked at

Odebrecht for eight. A Carioca, meaning that he was born in the city of

Rio de Janeiro, he has always worked in his home state. Eduardo is current-

ly participating in the revamp of Maracanã Stadium, one of the city’s most

iconic landmarks. Previously, he worked on the Morro do Alemão project

in one of Rio’s most underprivileged communities, where Odebrecht was a

partner in Consórcio Rio Melhor (Better Rio), the joint venture responsible

for infrastructure services there. “That project was a reality check,” he says.

“I’m proud to have helped reduce the hardships of people living in the com-

munities in my city. And I make sure to show that to my two-year-old son

Arthur,” he says, with a catch in his voice.

Proud to be a Carioca

João Borba and his increasingly productive relationship with sports

FOLKS

Eduardo Poley sees engineering as a way to help improve his hometown

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oão Borba is the officer Responsible for New Busi-

ness at Odebrecht Infraestrutura (Infrastructure). A

sports buff (he played on Flamengo’s indoor soccer team

as a boy), he recently led a study focused on implementing

an information consolidation system used in the London

Olympics. Odebrecht has won an international tender to

provide this service to the Organizing Committee for the

Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “I look for new

business outside the curve, apart from the company’s day-

to-day activities,” he explains. In the photo, he is shown

with young participants from the Navy-Odebrecht Pro-

gram, at the Almirante Adalberto Nunes Training Center

in Rio de Janeiro, which is preparing athletes to become

medalists in future Olympic Games. “This project adds in-

tangible values to the company,” says Borba, one of the

mentors of this initiative.

J

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26 informa

LOVE. DEFEND.

understand.written by mayara thomazini photos by márCio lima

26Environmental educator Mário César de Sousa with students at

the Green Belt: the environmental preservation area shelters 280,000

seedlings, 200 different types of plants and 400 wild animals

27informa

26Green Belt and Lagoa Viva Programs in Alagoas bolster environmental awareness born from a love for nature

he Green Belt is a 150-ha environmental pro-

tection area located in the restinga area of the

Pontal da Barra neighborhood, in the north-

eastern Brazilian city of Maceió (a restinga is a

tropical forest common to coastal areas of Bra-

zil). It is home to 280,000 seedlings, 200 types of plants and

400 wild animals. Established in 1987 alongside the Braskem

Chlor-Alkali unit to enable the environmental recovery of the

region, this nature preserve was uninhabited and barren until

it was reborn through soil recovery, the reconstruction of sand

dunes and the restoration of restinga Atlantic Forest. “Today

it is a new habitat that shelters animals and plants,” says

agronomist Mário Calheiros de Lima, clearly moved. Mário is

the director of the Green Belt, and participated actively in its

implementation.

The Green Belt Environmental Station was born with the

goal of promoting the natural development of flora and fauna,

and has become a sanctuary for birds and other animals from

the surrounding region - a suitable environment in which local

wildlife can survive and reproduce.

Open to the public, the Green Belt has been certified as an

Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve in the state of Alagoas (by

UNESCO) and a Conservationist Nursery for Brazilian Wild-

life (by IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental protection agency). By

2012, after a decade of contributions from Braskem, more than

180,000 people had visited the Environmental Station. “The

approximately 1,300 people who visit the project every month

leave there with a different concept of preservation. The Belt

symbolizes the reconciliation of technological development and

the balance of nature,” says Mário Calheiros.

In addition to protecting plant and animal life, the Green Belt’s

mission is to disseminate important concepts like sustainable

development. It carries out several sustainable programs fo-

cused on the professional development of the communities clos-

est to the Station, such as hydroponics and beekeeping, carried

out in partnership with the Lagoa Viva Institute.

Hydroponics and Honey FishersHydro (water) and ponia (work). Together, these words indi-

cate a way of mixing nutrients to grow plants without soil. It is

a simple method aimed at reducing costs by using rice husks

as substrate and reusing PET bottles as containers. Two hun-

dred and fifty students have already learned to use this method.

Some of the produce they grow is used to make school lunches,

and the rest is sold, with proceeds donated to the community.

The project has proven to be crucial for improving the com-

munity’s quality of life, since it generates jobs and sources of

income throughout the year.

T

28 informa

The Honey Fishers project has changed the lives of

dozens of local people in the lagoon region of Alagoas.

Crab gatherers, artisans and fishermen are discovering

that beekeeping is a new source of year-round income.

Today, more than 100 families receive about two mini-

mum salaries (BRL 1,244) per month by producing and

selling honey, beeswax, pollen and Alagoas red propo-

lis – a variety exclusive to the region.

Beekeeping allows fishermen to add BRL 622 to

their monthly incomes. Fifty fishermen/beekeepers

now make two minimum salaries per month. “Bee-

keeping is perfectly compatible with their other activi-

ties, and the producers learn to reconcile it with fishing

and the preservation of nature,” says Mário.

Lagoa Viva: benchmark for environmental educationCreated in 2001 in the Pontal da Barra district, the

Lagoa Viva (Living Lagoon) Environmental Education

Program organizes ongoing environmental education

seminars for elementary school teachers in Alagoas

and training courses for fishing communities from the

Mundaú and Manguaba lagoon area, helping the local

community create sources of income and fostering the

sustainability of ecosystems in the region. Braskem

sponsors this initiative in partnership with 40 municipal

boards of education in Alagoas, as well as the Maceió

Department of Education.

“Over the years, this program has made a signifi-

cant contribution to improving the quality of life of lo-

cal residents, and it is now hugely important to the re-

gion,” says Lagoa Viva Institute Chair Lenice Santos de

Moraes proudly.

Active for 11 years, Lagoa Viva benefits Alagoas

residents in 40 counties. “Teachers are crucial to their

students’ development. Therefore, we share knowledge

of environmental education with them to help them de-

velop a new outlook in relation to the environment and

the community. Our challenge is to plant that little seed

in the towns and cities so they can keep the project go-

ing on their own,” argues Lenice.

In 2011 alone, Lagoa Viva trained about one thousand

teachers, benefiting over 200,000 public school students

in Alagoas. “Our work aims to sensitize people about the

need to respect the environment and value ethical, cul-

tural and social/environmental aspects to encourage sus-

tainable living in each community,” says Lenice.

Izabel Cristina Alves is one of the teachers the institute

is training. She has been in the profession for 18 years,

and works at the Dona Maria de Araújo Lobo School in

Marechal Deodoro. She joined Lagoa Viva in 2007 with the

aim of getting young people interested in environmental

Mário Calheiros (left) and Biology student Diogo Santos at the Green Belt apiary: Honey Fishers project offers a new source of income for local residents

A wild animal from the Green Belt Environmental Station: a refuge that ensures survival and enables reproduction

29informa

issues. Her students have been taking part in workshops

for junior managers for two months now.

“They’ve become more responsible and aware, and

have changed their behavior: they used to scribble on

the chairs and walls of the school, but they don’t do that

anymore,” she explains, adding: “Now they are prepar-

ing lectures on environmental education to present to

the community.”

In addition to being a tool for environmental edu-

cation, the program also helps create jobs and sourc-

es of income while preserving local culture through

classes and workshops held at the Green Belt, in

schools and at facilities in their own communities. In

addition to hydroponics and beekeeping, the program

also offers music, English, silkscreen and arts and

crafts classes.

Lace handicrafts and plastic artworksOne of Alagoas’s strongest traditions is filé mak-

ing (a technique that consists of weaving cotton with a

bamboo needle that is later placed on a loom where it

is embroidered and transformed into lovely handmade

items). The Lagoa Viva Program identified this spe-

cial talent in the community, present throughout the

Mundaú-Manguaba Lagoon Estuary Complex, but on

the verge of extinction. Thanks to filé-making classes,

that tradition resurfaced in four years, and 365 people

have learned the secrets of this traditional art.

Lagoa Viva is also contributing on another front

through workshops that teach people to reuse PET

bottles and make a varied range of products that can

be sold to generate income for families from discarded

materials that can now be put to a new use.

“The Art with Plastic workshop teaches artisans

to work with a material that is useful and easy to find,

which adds value to local handicrafts,” says artisan

Cícera Cirilo, who teaches practical environmental ed-

ucation classes for teachers, students and community.

The Green Belt and Lagoa Viva Institute are projects

that help improve people’s quality of life because they

provide training, technical assistance and help in mar-

keting products, creating jobs and income all year round,

changing the lives of dozens of local residents.

Lenice Moraes, Chair of the Lagoa Viva Institute: disseminating sustainable methods

Robson Araujo with students in the hydroponics garden

30 informa

INTERVIEW

30back

31informa

30written by José enrique barreiro photo by Júlio bitenCourt

NO GOING

debrecht Informa recently got together

with three Group members to discuss the

environment. Augusto Roque, the officer

Responsible for Engineering and Busi-

ness Development at Odebrecht Energia;

Rogério Ibrahim, the officer Responsible

for Finance, Investment and Export Credit at Odebrecht

América Latina, and Saulo Nunes, the officer Responsible

for Acquisitions at Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias (Real

Estate Developments; OR), analyzed the decisive role of en-

vironmental issues in Brazil and other countries today and

highlighted the factors that set Odebrecht apart in regard to

social/environmental initiatives on major projects. The fol-

lowing is a summary of that conversation.

Odebrecht Informa – What sort of role does the environ-

ment play in Engineering & Construction projects today?

Augusto Roque – The environment plays a leading role to-

day. It is a very important issue. The initial perception that

an entrepreneur who wants to invest in energy should have

is that the environment is not an expense, it is an invest-

ment. The more you know about the environment you are

O

From left,Saulo Nunes, Augusto Roque and RogérioIbrahim: social/environmental programs play a leading role in entrepreneurial activities

back

32 informa

working in, the more competitive the project will be,

and you will also have a better relationship with the

community. Today, the concept is social/environmental

action, which must be proactive throughout the pro-

cess of planning and construction, with Engineering

teams working closely with the Environment teams to

ensure that the community accepts the solution they

ultimately devise.

Rogério Ibrahim – In terms of project financing, for

some years now this subject has been one of the cri-

teria for loan approval from any bank. Banks from

all countries have signed on en masse to the Equa-

tor Principles [the environmental requirements used

when granting financing for large projects]. Environ-

mental matters, or social/environmental issues, as

Roque so aptly put it, are the touchstone for any kind

of funding, any loans you want to obtain in the field of

major construction projects.

Saulo Nunes – I would like to extend this conversation

to include sustainability in general, including economic,

social and environmental balance. It is present in the

City Park project, which we are developing in São Paulo.

It is being built in an approximately 80,000-sq.m area on

Nações Unidas Avenue, where the old Monark factory

used to stand. We decided to build the most sustainable

real estate project in Brazil on that site, based on a plan

to revitalize the area and social diagnostics. We engaged

in dialogue with local residents and gained an in-depth

understanding of the project’s social impact.

OI – Can you describe the approval processes for proj-

ects?

Roque – In the hydropower area, which is the most

significant field in this regard, the licensing process is

long and complex. It begins with an inventory of the river

where the dam will be built, through an Integrated Envi-

ronmental Assessment (AAI) of drainage basins. An AAI

could derail a dam construction project. For example,

the only project that can be carried out on the Xingu

River is Belo Monte, and that’s it. Once the inventory

has been approved by the Government with the involve-

ment of specific entities and agents, the feasibility stage

begins with the development of an Integrated Environ-

mental Impact Assessment (EIA-RIMA). All this is done

to obtain an advance license authorizing the hydroelec-

tric project to go to auction. Whoever wins the auction

must obtain an Installation License (LI), which allows

construction to begin. The investor who produces a

suitable EIA-RIMA and obtains a comprehensive LI

will get started on the project faster, will have a bet-

ter relationship with the community, and will establish

a relationship of trust with most of the major players

(IBAMA, IPHAN and others). And it all culminates in

the Operating License (LO), which is required to start

generating power.

Ibrahim – We have followed all kinds of financing pro-

cesses for clients, especially from multilateral and

export credit agencies. The decisive factor is that the

project must be absolutely in line with the Equator

Principles. This means rigorous environmental plan-

ning, including how the communities will be treated,

advance environmental monitoring and subsequent

assistance. The funding bodies keep a close eye on the

progress of the project. This monitoring, which used to

be purely environmental, focusing on fish, water qual-

ity, air pollution levels, etc., is now also done with re-

spect to the community, to ensure that it is well cared

for and its way of life is respected.

Nunes – The process is similar in our case. If I don’t

have a project that will enthuse the City Government

and other institutions, I will not get it approved. The

City Park project is getting started in one of the most

desirable areas of the South Zone of São Paulo and,

as an Odebrecht Group company, we had an obligation

to do something different. We came up with the basic

concept of a compact city where everything is close at

hand: work, home, recreation and services. To make

the project feasible, we got to know the local commu-

nity, public agencies and social organizations. With our

ability to listen, influence and be influenced, we were

able to reconcile the interests of all the stakeholders

and develop the best design. The urban planning, ar-

chitectural and landscaping solutions for this project

incorporate environmental aspects and people’s qual-

ity of life, while benefiting the region.

Roque – I’d like to call attention to Acreditar [Believe],

a professional education program that is having a ma-

jor impact. It was created for the Santo Antônio project,

which expected to hire 15,000 workers, 30% locally and

70% from other states. Through Acreditar, we had nearly

50,000 applicants and “inverted the curve.” Today, 70% to

80% of the professionals building Santo Antônio are lo-

cal hires. This means we’ve prevented migration, created

opportunities and empowered local people. The project

33informa

has been replicated throughout Brazil and in other coun-

tries, and the most amazing thing is that, as a result of

this program, training local workers is now a social/envi-

ronmental condition for project approval.

OI – At what stage is Brazil on the environmental issue?

Roque – We have some of the toughest legislation in

the world. All communities are heard. The FUNAI [Na-

tional Amerindian Foundation], IPHAN [National Heri-

tage Institute], National Water Agency (ANA) and IBAMA

[Environmental Protection Agency] all participate, and

municipalities and state governments must weigh in as

well. Everyone has to be OK with it; if not, the venture

will not go ahead. Brazil is very strict in this regard.

Ibrahim – This issue was once seen as a form of com-

pensation for the community. When a project was built,

the people who suffered the impacts received compen-

sation, either financial or otherwise. But not today. Now

we must plan and know what will happen to that com-

munity and that environmental space after the project

is built. Of course, some impacts are inevitable. That

can and will be remedied. As for avoidable impacts,

we have to look for solutions for consolidation and im-

provement, whether it involves the environment or the

communities. The outlook today, in Brazil and around

the world, is more along these lines.

Nunes – Sustainability is the only way forward. There is

no going back. And all projects must incorporate sus-

tainable features. City Park will have 10 towers, includ-

ing five corporate buildings, an office building and two

residential towers, a mall and a hotel, and all of them

will be certified. This is the first project in South Amer-

ica to be pre-certified for the LEED-ND (Neighborhood

Development) seal from the US Green Building Coun-

cil. This certification covers the entire complex. We’ve

received an invitation from the Clinton Foundation and

the C40 summit to participate, and we are taking part

in a program called Climate Positive to neutralize car-

bon emissions. The Clinton Foundation only sponsors

18 projects around the world, and ours is one of them.

Programs and accolades like these show that we are

truly committed to the issue.

OI – What sets Odebrecht apart when it comes to the

environment?

Roque – It is the flexibility of our engineering to adapt

a project to the social/environmental requirements it

generates. There are countless examples in all areas.

It’s right there in the Odebrecht Group’s Vision for

2020: Sustainability. It is one of the pillars of that vi-

sion. Odebrecht wants to grow, yes, but in a sustain-

able way. It’s our top priority. That’s how it has to be

from now on.

Ibrahim – What sets us apart is the expertise of our

teams and our approach to the subject. Getting in-

volved with communities, improving their quality of

life, respecting citizens, all this is part of our cul-

ture. We were doing all this a long time before there

was an external demand for it. We did it on our own

initiative as entrepreneurs, not just as a contractual

obligation.

Nunes – The Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology

[TEO] is fundamental to our conception and approval

processes. City Park will not have walls. Sixty-two

thousand square meters of its 80,000-sq.m area will be

open to the public. Furthermore, it will contain 22,000

sq.m of green areas, which will form a linear park. To

make this project possible, we learned some important

lessons from the works of Mr. Norberto Odebrecht, in-

cluding the acumen an entrepreneur requires to trans-

form uncertainty into opportunities. This happened

when we acquired the land. We turned uncertainty into

an opportunity. The OR factor is the Odebrecht factor.

What do we do differently from other real estate com-

panies? Listening to our clients, getting to know them,

influencing and being influenced, and everything else

that TEO has to offer.

OI – Do the other agents recognize the Odebrecht dif-

ference?

Roque – The way Odebrecht handles the environ-

mental issue has created a special bond of trust with

stakeholders in the sector. We realize this clearly. Ev-

eryone recognizes us as trusted partners. We have

credibility. For example, when we tell IBAMA, “We’ll

do that,” IBAMA can be sure that it will get done. It

is a relationship of trust that can only be built up in

practice.

Ibrahim – We have the best possible reputation in the

Brazilian and international financial community. Our

approach and expertise are outstanding. We are lead-

ers in this market.

Nunes – There’s no doubt about it. We get credit for ev-

erything we have done and are doing today.

34 informa

34

Demonstrating that environmental

conservation and development

can go hand in hand when building the

Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant

Plant nursery at the Santo Antônio jobsite: 124 native plant species

35informa

ADAPTING ISvitalhe construction of the Santo Antônio hy-

droelectric plant on the Madeira River in

Porto Velho, Brazil, is proof positive that

socioeconomic development and envi-

ronmental conservation can walk in the

same direction. So far, BRL 1.6 billion of the total BRL

16 billion expected to be invested in the project have

been allocated to sustainability programs. Between

the time fieldwork for the project began in 2001 and

the approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment

(EIA/RIMA) in 2006, every aspect of the project was de-

signed to be socially and environmentally sustainable.

For example, this process led to a 26% reduction of

the area authorized for clearing and deforestation at

the jobsite.

In response to the worrying initial diagnosis that

there was a shortage of skilled labor in the region,

the Santo Antônio project gave rise to Acreditar, the

professional education program that has empowered

more than 53,000 workers in Brazil alone. It also miti-

gated one of the venture’s biggest risks, which was

also cause for concern for local residents, who were

accustomed to seeing different “booms” come and go

– rubber planting, the Madeira-Mamoré railroad and

gold mining – leaving nothing behind but memories.

Walking in the same direction was also the choice

Santo Antônio Energia (SAE) made in relation to the

Brazilian Environment and Renewable Natural Re-

sources Institute (IBAMA), the nation’s environmental

agency, to make it possible to reach a voluntary target

set for the project: generating power ahead of sched-

ule. Thanks to planning, alignment and commitment,

the company achieved that goal on March 30 of this

year as a result of proactive measures taken by SAE and

IBAMA with the support of Odebrecht Energia to obtain

an Operating License (LO) for the hydroelectric plant.

Twritten by João Paulo Carvalho photos by Sérgio amaral

According to the Odebrecht Energia officer Respon-

sible for Sustainability, Luiz Gabriel Azevedo, “Instead

of leaving it until the last minute, as in most cases, we

officially requested the LO from IBAMA in December

2010, and asked them to point out the required adjust-

ments associated with the steps we were completing.”

This streamlined the process so the license for

Santo Antônio was issued in September 2011, and

the first four bulb turbines started generating power

almost a year ahead of schedule. “It was a partner-

ship that brought together professionals from both

sides, and which is now praised by IBAMA and rep-

licated in other licensing processes in Brazil,” says

Luiz Gabriel. Furthermore, it has helped reduce the

need for thermal energy, the type most commonly

used in the region.

Acreditar graduates are helping operate the treat-

ment processes for construction-generated waste.

Comparable to a town with a population that has

reached over 18,000 workers, the Santo Antônio con-

struction site has introduced procedures that are more

stringent than those adopted by most cities in the re-

gion. The first licensed landfill in the state of Rondô-

nia was built at the jobsite, a model that has already

been replicated by the towns of Lábria, in Amazonas,

and Guajará-Mirim, in Rondônia. The Consórcio Santo

Antônio Civil (CSAC) joint venture’s Environment team

set itself the goal of recycling 82% of everything that is

used in the construction project. “Only 15% of waste is

sent to the landfill, which was built in compliance with

all environmental legislation requirements,” explains

Nelson Alves, the CSAC officer Responsible for Envi-

ronment. According to Nelson, this project’s success

is due to the commitment of each individual company

member. “We don’t have a specific recycling team like

other projects. Everything here is down to individual

35informa

36 informa

workers’ efforts to sort trash for recycling. They have

already incorporated this habit in their daily routines at

work and at home,” he adds.

Waste managementCSAC has implemented a Waste Management Center

that consolidates the measures taken in different areas of the

jobsite. Water, the raw material for the operations of any hy-

droelectric plant, receives VIP treatment at San Antônio. Five

Water Treatment Plants (WTPs), with a total recycling capacity

of 560 cu.m/h, enough to supply a city of 50,000, reclaim wa-

ter through the Closed Loop process. In the WTPs, aluminum

sulfate is replaced with an organic reagent produced from

tannin extracted from the bark of the black wattle tree, whose

trade name is Organic Veta. This substitution of reagents

makes it possible to treat and recycle the sludge produced

by washing clarifiers and filters, which returns to the water

storage tanks after going through a system of porous pockets

that retain the sludge and let the treated water flow through.

This system has resulted in a 50% reduction in the

use of other reagents, while slashing the cost of treat-

ment and the amount of water removed from the river,

and the sludge can be reused as organic matter in land

reclamation, along with seedlings grown in nurseries

that house more than 200,000 units of 124 native plant

species. This initiative, devised by Environment team

member Anelisa Cantieri, was among the winners of

the 2010 Odebrecht Highlight Awards.

The approximately 20,000 liters of lube oil that ma-

chines at the jobsite consume monthly are sent to the

city of Cuiabá for re-refining, and fluorescent lamps

undergo a special recycling process to remove mercury

(a highly polluting metal). Aluminum parts are set aside

for recycling, and glass is crushed and decontaminated

after removing the phosphorus powder, which is sent to

cement plants and other processing industries.

The industrial kitchen, which has reached the

milestone of 25 million meals served throughout the

Treating water with the Closed Loop system: clean water flows out, sludge stays in

37informa

project, produces about 2 metric tons of food scraps

per day. The waste is initially stored in special walk-

in freezers and then sent to the composting center,

where it will be turned into fertilizer used to grow

seedlings for the replanting process that is part of

the Degraded Areas Recovery Program (PRADE). All

of this is done with the best practices available in

the world.

Even the small amount of waste that cannot be re-

cycled has a place to go. Replicating an experiment con-

ducted by the Brazilian Navy Base in Antarctica, Santo

Antônio has purchased two hazardous waste incinerators

that are used to dispose of discarded oil filters, used rags

and other materials that would contaminate the soil or

take years and years to decompose. The jobsite inciner-

ates 6 to 8 metric tons of waste per month. “Santo Antônio

was the first hydroelectric project in Brazil to acquire this

equipment, and in less than eighteen months, the sav-

ings have offset the investment,” says Nelson Alves.

Preserving native wildlife is also a priority.

Since construction began, approximately 104,000

animals have been rescued and most have been

returned to the wild. When they need veterinary

care and cannot go back to their natural habi-

tat immediately, they are taken to the Wildlife

Screening Center (CETAS). Dodge and Zorrinho

are, respectively, a puma and a sloth. Both 4

months old, they are currently housed at CETAS.

These two youngsters are part of the group of

about 70 wild animals that are currently being

treated at the center. Built and funded entirely by

Santo Antônio Energia through a BRL 5-million

investment, CETAS will soon be transferred to IB-

AMA, which will also use the facility to address

other local needs. To date, the center has cared

for more than 1,900 animals.

Santo Antônio Dam: BRL 1.6 billion of the BRL 16-billion investment is being used to finance sustainability projects

Preserving local wildlife: the parrot and sloth are guests at the Wildlife Screening Center (CETAS

37informa

38 informa

OF A LONGJOuRNEY

vestiges

38On a project in Portugal, the past and present come together to leave a priceless legacy

39informa

written by Fabiana Cabral photos by Edu SimõES

n a mountaintop in the Trás-os-Montes region, the

bright Portuguese summer sun shines on steady hands

and precise movements that shift trowels and brushes

from side to side under watchful eyes. The work stops

when faint lines appear on one of the pieces discovered

there. “We’ve found more than 290 slabs with rock graphics here, in-

cluding geometric figures and pictures of warriors on horses,” says

Filipe Santos, trying to identify the graphic. He and 50 other archae-

ologists are working on the top of a hill called Castelinho, the largest

mobile rock art site on the Iberian Peninsula, and two other sites.

Filipe is in charge of the ethno-archaeological studies being carried

out for the Baixo Sabor Hydroelectric Project.

A fortified settlement dating from the Second Iron Age (up to 1,200

years BC), with a wall that can be up to 11 m thick, Castelinho (“little

castle” in Portuguese) is one of the 2,500 archaeological sites within

the area of the project being built for EDP Energia by Odebrecht-

Bento Pedroso e Construções and Lena Construções in the northern

Portuguese district of Bragança. The Baixo Sabor Dam is one of the

biggest construction projects in that country, and includes the larg-

est archaeology program underway on the peninsula. “Residents will

be able to learn more about the region’s past, which was previously

unknown, thanks to the archaeological ‘treasures’ being found,” says

Project Director Gilberto Costa.

The work began in February 2010 in the towns of Mogadouro, Mace-

do de Cavaleiros, Alfândega da Fé and Torre de Moncorvo. According

to Paulo Dordio, the officer Responsible for the Heritage Protection

Program, archaeological research was included in the Environmental

Impact Study. “We expected to find 240 sites, but we now have 10 times

more than that. Each work front is accompanied by an archaeologist,”

he explains.

One recent discovery proves that the region has been inhabited

since the Upper Paleolithic period (10,000 to 30,000 years BC). Sound-

ings had already indicated a human presence in Roman times (27 BC to

395 AD) and the Middle Ages (the 10th to 15th centuries AD).

The archaeologists are also using creativity, along with the artifacts

they are finding, to recreate the daily lives of people from those peri-

ods. It is an ongoing exercise, focused mainly on the Cilhades site, a

group of buildings from the Modern/Contemporary Era with the same

architectural model, modified over the years. “There were auxiliary farm

buildings used for harvesting and producing almonds, olive oil and wine,

which were still common in this region,” says Filipe Santos, who adds:

“We’ve found several items such as pottery, farm tools and some coins.

The oldest is a King Sebastian coin dating from the 16th century.”

Nearby, at the Laranjal site, anthropologist Zélia Maria Rodrigues

completes the excavation of a skeleton. “This was a grown woman,”

she says, in the shadow of the umbrella that protects the bones. The

O

A dig site in Monte Castelinho:

unearthing archaeological

treasures

40 informa

former cemetery contains 170 graves from the medieval

period. Archaeologists and anthropologists conduct

preliminary analyses there to identify each skeleton’s

gender, age and cause of death.

The materials collected at the archaeological sites

are taken to a laboratory set up at the construction site

for cleaning, sorting, treatment and study. “Even a 2-mm

piece can be analyzed and identified,” says André Tereso,

the officer Responsible for Assets.

Plant and animal lifeIf archaeology studies the human past by examin-

ing things people left behind, monitoring the flora and

fauna of the Baixo Sabor involves knowing and preserv-

ing the present-day environment, which is impacted by

the project.

In the Mogadouro Valley region, José Vingada and

seven biologists equipped with wetsuits, helmets,

flashlights and recording equipment enter a culvert

in the middle of the dry forest. It is one of the 80 bat

habitats in that area. “We’ve already catalogued 25

different species, including a rare one, the Black Bat,”

explains the Coordinator of the Wildlife and Aquatic

Ecosystems Monitoring Project. Every three months,

he and his team conduct an analysis of the animals

through observation, measurements of tem-

perature and the humidity of their

shelters, and assessments

of noise levels.

They also examine the

development of eagles, otters,

water moles, wolves and fish at several points in the

construction area, as well as a “control zone” outside

that perimeter. “We compare studies of these sites to

check for any changes in the lives of these animals,”

says Vingada. They use a range of methods: analysis of

animal scat and habitats, and observation using about

80 video cameras set up in several places in the forests,

among others.

Mariana Santos and Duarte Filipe Silva keep a close eye on native plants: making sure that nothing changes

Baixo Sabor Dam: one of Portugal’s largest civil

engineering projects

41informa

For aquatic ecosystems, the team conducts physi-

cal and chemical diagnostics in 25 spots along a 16-

km stretch of the Sabor River, which has a total

length of 70 km, as well as two “control zones.”

“We need to ensure the survival of local spe-

cies, because fish and macroinvertebrates indi-

cate water quality,” explains the biologist.

In the first week of August, the team carried out one

of its most challenging tasks: transporting fish down-

stream and upstream before that stretch of the river was

diverted and the water level was lowered. The transfer

was done by professionals, accompanied by representa-

tives of official agencies.

On the right bank of the Sabor, environmental engi-

neer Mariana Santos takes notes while biologist Duarte

Filipe Silva observes some native plants from the Trás-

os-Montes region. Every three months, they scour the

area, analyzing more than 400 types of plants, including

25 rare species, and keep an eye on “invasive” plants.

“We’ve found more species than there were in previous

studies,” said Filipe.

Every year, these professionals prepare a plant life in-

ventory that counts and records the species found near the

construction site and in the “control zones” for compari-

son. “No species have ceased or will cease to exist in Por-

tugal because of this project, because they

can adapt and survive changes in environ-

ment, climate and vegetation,” Mariana adds.

Historical and environmental legacy

The Baixo Sabor teams’ research will benefit from

the completion of the Environmental Interpretation and

Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (CIARA), which is being es-

tablished in Torre de Moncorvo. “The CIARA will be an im-

portant legacy for the local community and environmental

education,” says Gilberto Costa.

The Hydroelectric Project is developing 12 programs fo-

cused on wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, plants, air and

water quality and preservation of historical and cultural

heritage. “The teams are comprised of more than 360 peo-

ple, including environmental engineers, biologists, archae-

ologists and anthropologists,” says Augusta Fernandes, the

Coordinator of the project’s Integrated Management Sys-

tem for Quality, Environment and Workplace Safety.

Bureau Veritas Certification approved these programs

in 2010 in all three sectors. “This recognition sets us apart

in the market, honors the client and demonstrates our

competence in quality, safety, and especially in regard to

protecting the environment,” concludes Gilberto Costa.

Monitoring aquatic ecosystems: fish and macroinvertebrates indicate water quality

42 informa

CRUCIAL RE SULTScollecting

written by luCiana lana photos by bruna romaro

42One highlight of the

Chaglla hydroelectric plant construction

project in Peru is the pioneering program to

rescue plant and animal life, a first in that country

43informa

CRUCIAL RE SULTS

42

n Peru, the steep slopes of the Andes Mountains, which tower

over 5,000 meters high, are known as yungas. The yungas fol-

low the river valleys, and are characterized by forest vegetation.

Down below, the lowlands are covered with dense rainforests.

This is the setting where the Chaglla hydroelectric plant is under

construction in Huánuco, 540 km from Lima, the nation’s capital.

Chaglla is an extremely bold engineering project, due to the topog-

raphy alone. But more than that, the hydroelectric plant has estab-

lished itself as an example of environmental conservation. One of the

highlights is the program to rescue plant and animal life, a first in that

country. “There has never been a project like this anywhere in Peru,”

says biologist Rafael Tamashiro, the Odebrecht officer Responsible for

the Environment on the Chaglla project. Although Rafael has extensive

experience of working in protected areas and with environmental pres-

ervation agencies, such as the National Institute of Agrarian Research,

this is his first private-sector project: “This country needs infrastruc-

ture, and I decided to do my preservation work within the scope of ma-

jor projects like this one,” he explains.

New level of sustainabilityThe Chaglla hydropower plant is an Odebrecht Energia investment,

built by Odebrecht AL (Latin America) in Peru. The Environmental

Impact Study Odebrecht Energia conducted to obtain the concession

was the first step in an extensive effort to chart and study the region.

“There was no record of the flora and fauna present here. So we set

out to identify species, assess the risk of extinction and make diagno-

ses,” says Rafael, adding that to ensure the continuity of the research,

records are sent to the National Agrarian University of the Rainforest

(UNAS) in Tingo Maria, a neighboring city.

Once the initial reports were submitted, the Peruvian Ministry of the

Environment approved the project. Because it is being funded by the

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), which is a signatory of the

Equator Principles, further studies were also required.

“From that point on, the challenge was to bring the project to a new

level: world-class environmental sustainability. The detail and scope

of the studies go far beyond what is normally required,” explains Luiz

Gabriel Azevedo, the officer Responsible for Sustainability at Odebrecht

Energia. He highlights the research done to maintain the river ecosys-

tem: “We had to study the behavior of all the fish species there to en-

sure that none of them would be impacted.”

The same precautions were taken with mammals, reptiles and

birds. The researchers discovered some new species, which were sent

to the UNAS Zoo and then returned to the wild. Their work with local

plant life goes beyond rescuing native species: because the region is

an ideal habitat for orchids, Odebrecht Energia is training local people

to grow these flowers, and two orchid nurseries are already up and

running. “I didn’t know anything about orchids, but now I can identify

I

Composting with organic waste from the jobsite: used to cultivate local plants

44 informa

the ground orchids, the epiphytes and the lithophytes. I

learned everything right here,” says Isaías Atachagua,

who classifies orchid species at the hydroelectric plant’s

nursery. They have planted nearly 3,500 orchids and cat-

alogued about 130 species.

The areas for composting and growing seedlings

used to replant slopes are located near the orchid nurs-

ery. “Organic waste from the project is treated and the

fertilizer is distributed in the communities,” says Maximo

Evaristo Jorge, the officer Responsible for composting.

Archaeology and migrationPreserving historic sites is another concern at Chagl-

la. Excavations supervised by archaeologists have found

remnants of the past (bones, musical instruments, pot-

tery, fossils) that led to a change in the design of the

plant’s facilities to preserve an archaeological site. “Here

we have found indications that the Incas descended the

mountain range in the direction of the rainforest,” says

Patrícia Robles, the officer Responsible for archaeologi-

cal services.

From the social outreach standpoint, the project

is also making a contribution to the region, which was

sparsely populated until construction began. “Due to the

low population density, there was practically no need for

rehousing, but workers have been migrating to the area

near the project, and we are helping communities create

their own urban development plans,” explains Project

Director Sergio Panicali. He observes that the settle-

ments have many requirements. “The company is help-

ing these communities get organized,” says Panicali,

commenting on the formation of Advisory Boards for the

Fight against Poverty, which bring together community

leaders.

“One of our priorities is sanitation [water and sew-

age]. The other is setting up a health clinic,” says Edgar

Zevallos Cano, Mayor of Pampamarca, a community that

is actively participating in the Advisory Boards. He be-

lieves that Odebrecht’s support was instrumental in set-

ting development goals and strategies. “With the com-

pany’s help, we will soon be installing a landfill,” he says.

Other contributions to the community include sup-

porting farm production – such as purchasing produce,

providing community buses carrying about 1,200 people

daily, and offering waste management training. Not to

mention the Ongoing Professional Education Program,

The Chaglla hydroelectric plant’s

tunnel with yungas in the background: swathes

of native vegetation that rise up to the peaks of the Andes mountains

Patrícia Robles: vestiges of the Inca civilization

45informa

or Creer (Believe), an adaptation of Odebrecht’s Acredi-

tar Program. More than 1,300 people have graduated

so far, and 35% are now working at the jobsite. “This is

an example of how the project’s investors can share the

benefits with the communities, aligning business goals

with opportunities for social and economic development

for the region,” says IADB Director Fidel Jaramillo, the

bank’s representative in Peru.

The Chaglla hydropower plant will have 456 MW of

installed power and a reservoir covering just 4.7 square

kilometers. “This ratio makes the project an interna-

tional benchmark,” says Erlon Arfelli, CEO of Odebrecht

Energia in Peru. After working on large hydroelectric

projects in Brazil and other countries, Arfelli expresses

special pride in the work being done in Chaglla: “It is the

first time the Odebrecht Group has participated as an

investor in a power project outside Brazil. Because the

concessions are permanent, we are establishing an en-

during relationship with the region. This is a tremendous

responsibility.”

Chaglla is also having a major impact on Peru’s

energy mix: it represents the resumption of mid-size

dam construction in that country. “Peru has 60,000

MW of hydropower potential, and to maintain the

growth experienced in the last 10 years, the coun-

try has to go from the current 6,300 MW of installed

capacity to over 13,000 MW by 2020. Chaglla will be

one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the country,

supplying clean energy to meet about 6% of the total

demand,” says Erlon Arfelli. According to Fidel Jara-

millo, the clean energy generated by the Chaglla hy-

droelectric plant could reduce Peru’s CO2 emissions

by 1.8 million metric tons per year. “This project can

become a benchmark for sustainable energy develop-

ment in Peru,” says the IADB director.

Local bird: making a record of all the wildlife in the region in partnership with the National Agrarian university of the Rainforest

Workers in the orchid nursery: local residents are being trained to grow these flowers

46 informa

DESTINATION

eco-sustainability

46

very year, the North Coast of Bahia’s nat-

ural beauty and rich ecosystem, blessed

with wetlands, mangroves and patches

of Atlantic Forest, attract thousands of

tourists to the region, which contains the

largest variety of restinga plant life on the Brazilian

coast (a restinga is a distinct type of coastal tropical

and subtropical forest found in Brazil). These plants

grow in the sandy and salty soil typical of the area. The

North Coast is also the nation’s main spawning area

for sea turtles. Within this complex environmental con-

text, the village of Sauípe, in Mata de São João county,

has the support of environmentally sustainable devel-

opment projects organized by Odebrecht Realizações

Imobiliárias (Real Estate Developments; OR).

“When a company comes here to develop a real es-

tate project, it is imperative that it take special care

with the environmental and social aspects of that ven-

ture. They are often built in remote areas with pris-

tine natural environments and communities that have

never had any contact with rapid urban development.

To ensure the success of tourism real estate develop-

ments, it is essential to preserve the local community.

Otherwise, the clients for this type of product will go

elsewhere. They are looking for authenticity,” says

Franklin Mira, the officer Responsible for Develop-

ment and Management at Destination Sauípe.

Odebrecht established a presence in the region

with the construction of the Costa de Sauípe tourism

complex in 1998. Nowadays, the focus is on developing

residential projects at Destination Sauípe, and OR is

working on a new master plan for the area. “By 2013,

we plan to introduce a new concept of development for

Sauípe, one that is more mature and keeps the focus

on sustainability,” says Franklin.

Empowering environmental projectsTo support this new phase, the company’s teams will

enhance and intensify their environmental and commu-

nity outreach projects. A partner in this process is the

Coconut Coast Institute Ecological Corridor (INCECC),

which maintains Sauípe Park and the Forest Factory

project. Located on the Green Line (Highway BA-099),

across from the beach, the 66-ha park is home to the

Archaeology Center, which houses more than 50,000

artifacts and fragments from 26 sites in the region, and

Ewritten by lEonardo maia photos by almir bindilatti

47informa

eco-sustainabilityEnvironmental projects in Sauípe, Bahia, combine archaeology, landscaping, income creation and protection for plant and animal life

the Natural History Museum, created in 1997 by Cetrel,

the Camaçari Industrial Complex’s Environmental Engi-

neering company through a partnership with the presti-

gious New York Museum of Natural History. In 2006, the

Camaçari Complex transferred the museum to Sauípe

Park. Since then, 10,000 students from public and pri-

vate schools have visited both facilities, which are taking

part in one of the region’s environmental education pro-

grams. The other program is run by OR and its partners

in conjunction with the nearby communities.

“Sauípe Park is one of our main focuses on the en-

vironmental side. We want to create attractions like

ecotourism, sports and adventure-related activities.

We will have a calendar of events at the park that

involves the local community in the process,” says

Danilo Lima, the officer Responsible for Sustainabil-

ity at Destination Sauípe. He points out that one of the

activities being planned is bird watching, along with

sports competitions such as stand-up paddling and

BMX bicycle racing.

Sauípe Park: native plants form part of the landscape in OR’s real

estate development

48 informa

Not far from Sauípe Park, Odebrecht has estab-

lished the Native Plant Nursery, an outgrowth of the

Plant Life Rescue program that was set up when the

first buildings were constructed in Sauípe. INCECC is

now running the nursery through the Forest Factory

project, which operates the site through an open-end-

ed lease. As a result of this joint effort, in September

2012 the nursery celebrated the production of 1 mil-

lion seedlings of native Atlantic Forest plants.

“Generally, when nurseries are set up in cities,

they grow exotic plants. Here at Destination Sauípe,

we conducted a study of the local ecosystem, and

learned a lot. For example we have mangrove sap-

lings that do not reproduce easily,” says Danilo.

OR uses local plants in its landscaping projects for

real estate developments at Destination Sauípe, as

well as for the Degraded Areas Recovery Program

(PRAD) being carried out in that area. The identifica-

tion of more than 200 types of plants gave rise to a

catalogue, an initiative that seeks to make up for the

dearth of literature on the region’s biodiversity.

The nursery is also growing most of the 1,500 mut-

ambo seedlings whose fruit will be used to extract oil

to make handmade soap and shampoo. The Tupinam-

ba Indians who once lived in that region were the first

to use this oil for personal hygiene purposes. OR in-

tends to reach sufficient scale to enable representa-

tives of the local community, more precisely residents

of Vila Sauípe, to supply mutambo products to hotels

and homes on the North Coast.

The mutambo project is just one of the ongoing ini-

tiatives at the Production School, which OR has do-

nated to the Vila Sauípe Residents’ Association. “We

created the Production School to develop a project

that reflects the local culture. We support the training

of artisans from Vila Sauípe, who make purses, wal-

lets and other objects from piassava palm fiber. Job

creation in the region is still strongly linked to extrac-

tion, so it is key to establish a suitable management

program,” says Franklin Mira.

The artisans sell their products to hotels in the re-

gion, and, once a month, they organize a fair on the

grounds of the Production School to attract locals and

tourists from Mata de São João. The school also offers

the community another plant nursery, a computer

Artisan from the Production School:

“Tourists love our work”

Children learn about plants and animals: broadening their knowledge of the region

49informa

room, a library, and classrooms for courses that generate

income for the Association. “Tourists love our work, and they

are even more delighted when they come to buy handicrafts

here at the school and get a first-hand look at what we do

here. Many people haven’t been to our village. We need to

bring them here,” says Rute Souza, one of the Production

School’s artisans. Other community income-generation

projects being developed include growing flowers and tropi-

cal plants, an artisanal agroindustry that produces fruit pre-

serves and sweets, and beekeeping and honey production

from rationally bred stingless bees.

To ensure that all these projects are sustainable, OR is

planning the creation of the General Association of Sauípe.

Something like a “Destination City Hall,” it will take care of

common areas, security, internal roadways and relations

with local communities. Another essential responsibility

will be setting construction and environmental standards.

The association will also run the future Ecocentro, a facility

planned to begin operations in 2014. It will be an environmen-

tal interpretation center that offers lectures and educational

programs, prioritizing local history. This facility will be part of

the Apraiú Project, planned as a common area for two new

OR real estate products under study for that region. These

initiatives will ensure that Destination Sauípe continues to be

a benchmark for projects carried out in perfect harmony with

the best practices of sustainable development.

Native Plant Nursery: 1 million seedlings in September

50 informa

OF GUMPTIONfilters

Three Odebrecht companies are participating in Aquapolo, a project that is innovating the production of recycled water

50

written by luiz CarloS ramoS photos by FrEd Chalub

51informa

Aquapolo project member with

a sample of reclaimed water:

new technological and environmental

solutions

he Aquapolo Environmental Project has embarked on the testing phase and

will start supplying reclaimed water to support the operations of Braskem

and (at least) three other companies in the ABC Petrochemical Complex in

Mauá, in the São Paulo metro area, that have already confirmed their inter-

est. A few miles from the complex, at the ABC Sewage Treatment Station

(Sabesp), on the border of São Paulo and São Caetano do Sul counties, the treated sew-

age is converted into an input that is supplied to their plants. This project involves three

Odebrecht Group companies (Braskem, Foz do Brasil and Odebrecht Infraestrutura), in

a cross-cutting move that underscores the companies’ synergy and is a leap forward for

environmental sustainability.

By producing industrial water for use in production processes, the Aquapolo project

offers companies a reliable and sustainable alternative to using drinking water, therefore

making it available for public consumption.

A pioneer in large-scale industrial water reuse and one of the largest of its kind in

the world, the project has given rise to Aquapolo Ambiental, a Special Purpose Company

formed by Foz do Brasil, the Odebrecht Group’s environmental solutions company, and

Sabesp, a mixed-ownership (state-private) company controlled by São Paulo State. Sa-

besp CEO Dilma Pena observes that investing in the production of reclaimed water also

improves sanitation in general. “By recycling, we are using treated wastewater economi-

cally, because treating urban sewage is very expensive and initially requires a large in-

vestment in fixed assets. Therefore, water reuse will help universalize sanitation,” she

adds. For Paulo Massato, the director of Sabesp’s Metropolitan Region operations, the

company’s partnership with Foz do Brasil has opened up yet another prospect. “We can

move forward on other large-scale reuse projects in Brazil,” he says.

Interaction between different partners has consolidated a project that is economically,

socially and financially viable, and has been firmly established as a replicable business

model. This positive visibility has cast the spotlight on partners from several sectors that

are involved in the project, such as universities, industries and the press. An example of

Aquapolo’s media impact was a special report on the Globo News program’s “Cities and

Solutions” segment, in which Aquapolo received high praise from André Trigueiro, a jour-

nalist with a long track record in the field of sustainability. Furthermore, the project was

among the winners of the Global Water Awards, which recognizes successful water supply

and treatment initiatives around the world. The CEO of Foz do Brasil, Fernando Santos-

Reis, accepted the award from former uN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

T

52 informa

Cross-cutting operationsBraskem is Aquapolo’s biggest client. And a third Ode-

brecht company is joining the partnership: Odebrecht

Infraestrutura (Infrastructure), which is responsible for

building the Industrial Water Production Plant (EPAI), the

pipeline, and the distribution system within the petro-

chemical complex.

The project was built next door to the ABC Sewage

Treatment Plant. The sewage Sabesp collects and treats

there undergoes an additional stage of treatment that

Aquapolo carries out using high-tech ultrafiltration mem-

branes and reverse osmosis.

The water then travels along a pipeline that is nearly 1

meter in diameter and 17 kilometers long, passing through

three cities, São Paulo, São Caetano and Santo André, until

it reaches the petrochemical complex in Mauá. Braskem

will use the lion’s share of the 650 liters per second of

industrial water Aquapolo initially produces: 557 l/s. The

remainder will benefit the operations of the Cabot, Oxicap,

Oxiteno and White Martins companies. Aquapolo’s pro-

duction capacity could reach 1,000 liters per second when

more companies interested in consuming industrial water

come on board.

Low water supplyWith 39 counties and a total of 21 million inhabitants,

the São Paulo metro area is one of the five most populous

regions in the world. This high population density, along

with being the largest industrial complex in Latin America,

makes treated water scarcer and scarcer every year, al-

most as much as in the driest areas of Northeast Brazil.

There is a plentiful supply of fresh water in Brazil as a

whole – as much as 35,000 cu.m per person/year. How-

ever, it averages just 2,500 cu.m per person/year in São

Paulo State. In São Paulo City, that figure dwindles to 200

cu.m. In the ABC region, the maximum amount is 130

cu.m/person/year.

In the early twentieth century, the Guarapiranga res-

ervoir managed to supply São Paulo City, which was

growing at a far lower rate than it is today. However, in

recent decades, it was necessary to invest in obtaining

water elsewhere and building seven other systems of

aqueducts, all under the management Sabesp: Canta-

reira, which is the largest; Alto Tietê, Alto Cotia, Baixo

Cotia, Ribeirão da Estiva, Rio Claro and Rio Grande.

All eight complexes produce 67,000 l/s of water, half of

which comes from reservoirs in the Sierra da Cantar-

eira mountains, fed by small rivers from as far away as

southern Minas Gerais.

Named after three cities, Santo André, São Bernardo

do Campo and São Caetano do Sul, where auto manufac-

turers and metalworking and petrochemical plants are

based, the ABC region is one of São Paulo’s most devel-

oped areas The region also comprises four other munici-

palities: Diadema, Mauá, Ribeirão Pires and Rio Grande da

Serra. When fully operational, Aquapolo will make up to

2.58 billion liters of treated water per month available for

public use, enough to supply a city of 500,000 inhabitants,

or the total population of two ABC municipalities - São

Caetano do Sul and Diadema.

Water recycling plant: capable of treating 1,000 liters per second. Opposite, the pipeline that takes the water to the ABC Petrochemical Complex: 17 km long, running through four cities

53informa

How reclaimed industrial water is producedOdebrecht Informa has followed every stage of the pro-

cess of producing reclaimed water. The CEO of Aquapolo

Ambiental is sanitary engineer Marcos Koehler Asseburg, a

native of São Paulo who has been with the Odebrecht Group

for four years. He explains that he was very enthusiastic

about being recommended to take part in this project. “It is

completely innovative. Unfortunately, Brazil has a long way

to go in the field of sanitation, both in terms of sewage col-

lection and treatment. But the Aquapolo project is a hopeful

sign, because it collects sewage and puts it to a good use,

while making a dream come true; and all that with viable

financial engineering.”

Marcos accompanied the magazine’s team to demon-

strate how secondary water (wastewater that has under-

gone the secondary stage of treatment) becomes industrial

water. Treated sewage is collected from secondary decant-

ers at the ABC Sewage Treatment Plant and becomes the

raw material for processing at Aquapolo Ambiental. After

treatment, the water flows by gravity to the low-load pump-

ing station, and from there it goes on to the next stage for

preliminary treatment. “That is when the production of re-

claimed industrial water begins,” says the engineer. “Disc

filters remove solid waste particles greater than or equal to

400 microns in size.”

The water is then sent on for biological treatment, pass-

ing through membranes that retain solids and even bacte-

ria. “When industrial water shows high salinity, it undergoes

reverse osmosis to reduce its conductivity,” explains Marcos

Asseburg. “After that, the industrial water is disinfected with

chlorine dioxide. Then it is sent to the high-load pumping sta-

tion, where the industrial water is pumped into the pipeline

that takes it to the petrochemical complex.”

Chemical analyst Rodrigo Otavio Santos Dias, 29, a water

and environmental sanitation technician, is a plant operator

at Aquapolo. He opens a tap and takes a sample of clean,

transparent reclaimed water to test its purity. “This is the fu-

ture. It is the solution for many cities,” says Rodrigo, who is

proud to be part of this pioneering initiative.

Four storage tanks hold 70,000 cu.m of industrial wa-

ter, ensuring a steady supply for Aquapolo’s clients. The

environmental benefits of this project go beyond econo-

mizing on drinking water: it is also helping clean up the

Tamanduateí River.

Overcoming barriersFabiano Munhoz has been Odebrecht Infraestrutura’s

Project Director for Aquapolo since mid-May, replacing Emyr

Costa, who has taken on a new challenge at Foz do Brasil.

“When I was 7 years old, I used to visit projects in Bahia along

with my father, Durvalino Munhoz, who worked at Odebrecht.

Here at Aquapolo, which is nearing completion, I can see that

the team feels they have accomplished their mission. We

have overcome major engineering challenges to build the

treatment plant and pipeline. It required tremendous care

to ensure the safety of our members and motorists on the

routes where the project was being built. Another highlight

was people development – grooming the young profession-

als who started their careers on this venture and have taken

54 informa

on ever-greater challenges over the course of this project.”

Fabiano also underscores the team members’ awareness of

the project’s immense importance for sustainability. “Without

a doubt, Aquapolo is a calling card for projects with other cli-

ents. Visits from several companies have already made this

clear,” he says.

The Engineering Manager for the project, Reynaldo

Moreira Júnior, is the engineer responsible for assembly and

automation. He says he joined Odebrecht nearly three years

ago to take part in the construction of Aquapolo. “To install the

pipeline, we started out with 12 work fronts, offering work op-

portunities to 800 people. As a result, we delivered the project

quickly, including stretches that run alongside the Tamandu-

ateí River and Avenida dos Estados.”

Braskem upgrades the complexChemical engineer Fadlo Eduardo Haddad, the

Braskem officer Responsible for Process Engineering in

Mauá and Santo André, leaves his office to visit the huge

facilities in Capuava and walks past a large stone that com-

memorates the inauguration of what was then called the

União (Union) Petrochemical Complex by President Emílio

Médici and Governor Laudo Natel. The inscription shows

the year: 1972. It was a leap forward compared to the first

steps of industrial development in that area, taken in 1954

when the União Refinery was built. In the course of the

Brazilian petrochemical industry’s 40-year history, the re-

finery would change its name several times until Braskem

took control of Quattor in 2010. Known as PQU, União had

the capacity to produce 180,000 metric tons of ethylene an-

nually. Today, the unit is part of Braskem. Now called the

Basic Petrochemicals Unit (Unib 3 ABC), it can produce up

to 700,000 metric tons of ethylene per year.

Standing near a complex of buildings, pipes and tanks, en-

gineer Fadlo Haddad points to a green balance tower, a new

feature in the landscape: that is where reclaimed water will be

stored and sent to Braskem’s facilities and other clients at the

complex through a 3.6-km pipeline network. Fadlo, who has

worked at the complex for 26 years and joined Braskem two

years ago, stresses the importance of the arrival of Aquapolo

water: “For Braskem, this project is essential, because the

operation of the complex was under threat when it came to

ethylene production processes. The water the complex used

to obtain from the Tamanduateí River is inadequate and insuf-

ficient. Now, thanks to reclaimed water, we can even increase

production. And it also benefits the environment.” Fadlo Had-

dad observes that, because it is completely clean, reclaimed

water has great advantages over river water from densely

populated cities, which is often polluted and can damage the

equipment.

The Camaçari Industrial Complex in the northeastern

state of Bahia is also introducing a recycling project using

rainwater. Based on a recent trial, expectations are that

treated and stored rainwater will account for approximately

one-third of the total the plant consumes, which is a plus

for residents of the Salvador Metropolitan Area. Creativity,

partnerships and alternative investments are giving rise to

alternatives that not only increase production but enable en-

vironmental conservation and improve the quality of life of

present and future generations.

Braskem unit at the ABC Complex: water to keep industrial production high

55informa

firefightersIN THE CANE FIELDS

The fire brigades’ work is a highlight of ETH’s

safety, prevention and environmental

preservation strategy

written by EdilSon lima photos by riCardo tEllES

t’s 3 pm in Costa Rica county, Mato Grosso do

Sul. The Odebrecht Informa team is tagging

along with ETH Bioenergy Taquari Hub Fire Bri-

gade Leader Renato Bonini and his team mem-

bers on one of their regular visits to the mecha-

nized sugarcane harvesting work fronts. Renato

gets a warning over the radio: there is a fire breaking

out about 20 kilometers away. His team needs to get

there quickly. The journalist and photographer follow

the firefighters in a 4x4 truck to get a first-hand look

at their efforts to put out the constant fires that plague

the Brazilian savanna region this time of year.

I

55A firefighter and truck positioned at a mechanized harvesting front: extra precautions during droughts

56 informa

The fire was started by people who live on a farm

and were burning household waste. Thanks to the

rapid response of the fire brigade and truck, the

situation was quickly under control, preventing what

could have become a major fire: it was just three

meters from the cane field. “That’s the way it is

around here: if we aren’t careful, we could have a

disaster on our hands in minutes,” explains Renato.

A native of Castilho, São Paulo, Renato Bonini, 47,

worked as a professional firefighter in his home state

for 15 years. With that experience in his resume, he

joined ETH three years ago. Today, he has 42 team

members under his command in the Costa Rica Fire

Brigade alone. Besides his pick-up truck, he has 13

fire trucks, an ambulance, and all the safety equip-

ment the firefighters require at his disposal.

Every day, Renato visits the four fronts of the har-

vesting unit, covering an average radius of 27 km.

There are two fire trucks at every work front, each

with its own driver and an assistant. Once an hour,

they measure what they call the fire cycle: heat, hu-

midity and wind. The limit is 33ºC heat, relative hu-

midity of 20%, and 15 km/h winds. If they see any

change in one of these indicators, they advise the

work front leaders to take extra precautions, or even

to stop the harvest to prevent any risk of fire.

“Company members undergo safety and pre-

vention training. Furthermore, every day, before

he starts his shift, the work front leader carries

out a Daily Safety, Health and Environment Dia-

logue (DDS). That 10-minute conversation is key to

getting the job done safely,” says Gilmar Pereira,

the unit’s Safety, Health and Environment (HSE)

engineer. “A detailed study of the site must be

conducted before any activity is carried out in the

field,” he adds.

Leandro Melo, the unit’s Agricultural HLT (har-

vesting, loading and transport) Manager, observes

that the unit’s leaders get together every week

as a local committee to mull HSE concepts and

practices: “It’s an opportunity to share their ex-

periences.”

The Costa Rica Unit and Alto Taquari Unit com-

prise the Taquari Hub in the state of Mato Grosso.

Altogether, ETH has five production hubs and a to-

tal of nine units in four Brazilian states and 15,000

company members.

Exchanging informationThe committees are excellent tools for ensuring

that everything and everyone is on the same page,

from ETH’s São Paulo City headquarters to the cane

fields in the company’s five hubs. Every two months,

the directors of the hubs and their HSE managers

meet in São Paulo with Adriano Granjo, the ETH of-

ficer Responsible for the program. They spend an

entire day exchanging information and experiences.

“We discuss our knowhow and planning here, but

the data has to reach the work fronts,” says Adriano,

who is based at ETH’s São Paulo headquarters but

spends most of his time visiting the company’s agro-

industrial operations in Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato

Grosso do Sul and São Paulo State.

To make the company’s HSE program more pro-

active, ETH has implemented an Automatic Tem-

perature Detection System this harvest season, to-

gether with the original protection system, called a

Fire Extinguisher Kit, in all cane harvesters (a total

of 304 units). “While harvesting, the dry cane straw

comes into contact with the hottest parts of the

harvester, and that can be enough to start a fire,”

explains Adriano.

57informa

The work done to prevent fires in the vicinity of the

harvesting machines is called Level 1. If the kit and

the operator can’t control the fire with the machine’s

extinguisher, the system goes to level 2, bringing in

the operational front’s firefighting team - a driver

and his or her assistant, and a specially equipped fire

truck. If they cannot put out the fire, the system goes

to level 3, and a team specialized in farm firefighting

is immediately dispatched to the scene.

At the same time, the work front leader, who is pre-

pared for these emergencies, oversees the evacuation

of areas where the fire is actively burning, prioritizing

company members’ safety. When he reaches the front,

the Brigade Leader takes charge of the firefighting op-

eration until the blaze is completely out. In some cases,

he calls in outside support through the PAME (Emer-

gency Mutual Aid Plan), which could come from the Fire

Department, city governments or local fire brigades.

A 24-hour safety netThe period between June and September is the

most critical time of year in Brazil’s tropical savan-

na region due to weather conditions (dry weather,

strong winds and high temperatures). Fires break

out all the time. “ETH, businesses and government

agencies were concerned with this situation, so they

got together to create the PAME. The aim is to join

forces to systemize and strengthen fire prevention

and firefighting measures,” says Valmir Viana, the

HSE Manager at the Mato Grosso do Sul Hub, which

includes the Santa Luzia and Eldorado units.

“We must never make the mistake of thinking we

are 100% safe. All companies in that region must take

preventive measures and keep a close watch. A fire at

a neighboring farm could spread to the cane fields

and vice versa. That’s why we decided to deploy the

PAME at all five ETH hubs by identifying local part-

ners. That way, our fire brigades can give and receive

support when necessary,” says Adriano Granjo.

Renato Bonini (center) and his team members Donival do Assis (left) and Petrônio Almeida: ongoing dialogue and training

58 informa

WORLDWIDErevamping

58

written by aliCE GalEFFi & Flávia tavarES photos by dario dE FrEitaS & dimitriuS bECk Silva

n the biting wind of Rio Gallegos, southern Ar-

gentina, Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial Proj-

ect Director Marco Duran explains some details

of the work that will be done there. The tem-

perature is close to freezing, but the wind chill

pushes it well below, down to -12ºC, and the sky is

overcast. A few days later, he will be experiencing oth-

er extreme: the scorching heat (over 42ºC) of Pasade-

na, Texas, in the USA. This is an occupational hazard

for someone who is responsible for one of Odebrecht’s

most internationalized projects, the PAC SMS (the

Portuguese acronym for Action Program for Certifica-

tion in Safety, Health and Environment).

Signed in October 2010 after a tender involving do-

mestic and foreign firms, the contract is for

services provided to Petrobras’s Interna-

tional Business Area (ANI). After acquir-

ing assets in several parts of the world,

the Brazilian oil giant is bringing each of these facili-

ties up to its high standards and providing them with

safe conditions for structural integrity, operational

control, safety, environment and health management

and people development. It is also revamping and or-

ganizing preventive programs on all three fronts rep-

resented by the HSE acronym. This is where the proj-

ect that Petrobras designed and Duran is now running

comes in. “We are active in all areas of work involved

in the oil supply chain, except geology,” he explains.

This means that his team, which now consists of 1,041

people, including Group members and contractors,

assesses the state of Petrobras assets from drilling

to final distribution at gas stations, including pro-

duction, transportation, storage and

refining. And they do it in no less

than 11 countries: Brazil (where

the project’s headquarters are

I

59informa

On the PAC SMS project, Odebrecht teams are adapting Petrobras assets in 11 countries

based) and operations in the United States, Argentina,

Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador,

Peru and Japan.

No wonder that most large companies use the

acronym HSE for these programs. In many ways, all

three areas are inextricably linked, and measures

taken in one area impact the others. It is no differ-

ent in the oil industry. Preventing a leak on offshore

platforms or in the tanks of a gas station is not just

an environmental issue but a safety and public health

issue as well. “The first major wave of global concern

was safety, which led to the creation of international

standards to prevent accidents. Now we are focusing

our efforts on the environment, through leakage pre-

vention and reduction of CO2 emissions, for example,”

explains Julián Socolovsky, the Odebrecht officer Re-

sponsible for QSEH (Quality, Safety, Environment and

Health) for this project.

In Argentina, the location of most of the projects

included in the contract – signed for three years and

renewable for three more – Odebrecht’s work includes

revamping, construction and installation, diagnosis

and environmental excellence, and studies, diag-

nostics and surveys in the areas of Safety, Environ-

ment and Health, and the acquisition of contingency

and firefighting services and equipment related to

the Petrobras Action Plan for ANI HSE Certification.

In Paraguay, the team’s work is focused on adapting

gas stations to comply with the most advanced local,

international regulations, and Petrobras’s own stan-

dards. “Here in Patagonia, for example, the ecosystem

is very fragile. Any change made in the environment is

almost permanent. For that reason, every precaution

is necessary,” says Marco Duran.

In fact, both Neuquén and Rio Gallegos, two of the

locations where HSE projects are being carried out,

The PRSI refinery in Pasadena, Texas, is over 100 years old: revamped to meet high operational

quality standards

60 informa

are characterized by a natural environment that is both

rough and fragile. Production wells and oil fields are

surrounded by miles of pale brown terrain covered

with low-growing vegetation that is a habitat for wild-

life. The tanks that store the oil, which can hold up to

30,000 cu.m, require sophisticated repairs, and when

they cannot be refurbished, they are replaced with new

ones. The professionals responsible for providing ser-

vices on the 276 projects included in the contract (36

of which have been completed) are highly skilled, and

the HSE procedures Odebrecht and Petrobras have

jointly established meet the highest standards. “Every

country has its own laws, but the PAC SMS goes beyond

what the law requires, following standard procedures

for Petrobras,” says Julián Socolovsky. This is why the

project has been divided into four interdependent sec-

tions that interact with each other (see box).

A compilation of all the necessary procedures

for each project can reach more than 50 pages, ac-

cording to Socolovsky. It’s a job that requires detailed

planning, which involves analyzing the risks and how

to avoid them and setting out the entire task, step by

step. It takes patience and expertise. “It’s true that

you get antsy when you have to wait for all that to be

done before you can get started, but it is a necessary

process,” says Diego Barindelli, 28, a civil engineer

and one of the 21 Young Partners working on the

PAC SMS project. “The best thing is that I’ve been

here from the start, since the design of the contract,

and have followed the whole process. It’s an amaz-

ing learning experience. I never dreamed that I’d be

involved in a project with this level of environmental

concern,” he adds.

Over 100 years oldIn Pasadena, Texas, the challenge is to revamp the

PRSI (Pasadena Refining System Inc.) refinery, found-

ed over 100 years ago in 1902, to meet Petrobras’s high

HSE quality standards. “We don’t just want to comply

with the law. Above all, we want to be environmen-

tally friendly,” says Marco Duran, now in the intense

Texas heat, a few hours after landing in Houston. PAI

(Petrobras America Inc.) acquired PRSI as part of the

Brazilian oil company’s international expansion plan.

In December 2010, the PAC SMS project got started at

the refinery - Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial’s first

contract in the United States.

PRSI is located on the banks of the historic Ship

Channel, the scene of the decisive battle of the Tex-

an Revolution in 1838, in which Texans and Mexicans

fought for possession of that territory. Almost two

centuries later, a different kind of struggle is under-

way: instead of guns, it involves hard work. Because

it is an old and highly productive refinery (100,000

barrels of oil refined per day), the work is steady and

requires detailed follow up of planning, because one

project involves another due to the requirements en-

countered along the way. “Our mission is to provide

the most advanced technological innovations to en-

sure operational safety,” explains Duran. There are 29

projects underway at PRSI.

These projects are varied and range from simple

tasks, such as installing handrails and safety show-

ers, to the replacement of old storage tanks, oil spill

control for those tanks, regulating emissions of pol-

luting gases, and the installation of a gas cleaning

system for the plant’s units. The PAC SMS team will

install a new fire prevention system, upgrade the ex-

isting system and build a new water storage tank.

Trained professionals will be on hand to take action

in any emergency. “These projects are critical for en-

suring that our client achieves their goal of ensuring

excellence in environmental management and opera-

tional safety,” says Duran.

One important feature of the environmental pro-

tection facilities is the Wet Gas Scrubber, which

cleans the gases the refinery produces before they

60 informa

Worker at Petrobras’s facilities in Rio Gallegos, Argentina: the environment is both rough and fragile

61informa

are released into the atmosphere. The engineer re-

sponsible for this project, Charles Waligura, is a Tex-

an who is passionate about Pasadena and has worked

at nearby refineries for over 30 years. He says this

project is extremely important because it is making a

significant contribution to achieving Petrobras’s goals

within the sphere of its sustainability program.

To explain the concept of the system, contaminated

gases enter through a pipe in a cleaning machine,

where spray curtains of water and ozone break down

gas particles and release them back into the atmo-

sphere 95% clean. The toxic particles are sent to an-

other compartment and taken to a treatment plant.

PRSI’s Wet Gas Scrubber is currently being manufac-

tured and will be installed by early 2013.

The Odebrecht Group has been present in the United

States for 22 years and is active in the states of Florida,

Louisiana and Texas. The Odebrecht Engenharia Indus-

trial team in Pasadena has 60 members, most of whom

are local people. Only three are Brazilian expats. One is

Daniel Alegria, the officer Responsible for the operation

in that country. “Putting a refinery within HSE quality

standards is not a new challenge for Odebrecht. Our

biggest challenge is cultural, because the US market

and, especially, the Texan market, are unique in many

ways,” he says. Both Marco Duran and Daniel are fa-

miliarizing themselves with this culturally distinct en-

vironment. The work is going better all the time. “Tex-

ans are very proud of their state. The biggest-selling

flag in the United States isn’t the Stars and Stripes,

it’s the flag of Texas. I realized that I had to accultur-

ate and adapt to some of their habits to better interact

with local partners. In Texas, driving a pick-up truck

and wearing cowboy boots is very natural. I’ve come to

understand and appreciate these customs. The day I

showed up at the office wearing boots, everyone came

over and congratulated me because I’m adapting to the

Texan way of life,” says Daniel.

The PAC SMS AND ITS WORk FRONTSThe PAC SMS project is divided into four sections:

INTEGRITY OF FACILITIES – projects involving con-

struction and industrial assembly services required to

bring industrial facilities and off-site equipment, pro-

cessing units and other physical facilities back to “opti-

mum” physical and operational conditions.

HSE LIABILITIES – services needed for diagnos-

tics and environmental protection, with a view to im-

plementing environmental excellence programs that

prevent possible environmental impacts caused by

oil, and enable the disposal of hazardous waste stored

in Petrobras’s ANI assets.

HSE MANAGEMENT – services required for con-

ducting local HSE studies. These studies are prereq-

uisites, for example, for maintaining environmental

permits for operations, for the adaptation of each

company’s HSE Management System to Petrobras’s

Corporate HSE System Guidelines, and to establish

emergency response plans, crisis communication

plans and quantitative risk analyses. So far, in 2012

alone, 4,820 hours have been dedicated to HSE man-

agement training. During the 832,313 hours worked

on Odebrecht’s PAC SMS projects, the lost-time ac-

cident rate has been zero.

CONTINGENCY – the services and equipment

necessary to enable ANI companies to respond to

emergencies and fight fires, in compliance with the

Petrobras HSE System Standard. The equipment

must be used in so-called Significant Accident Situ-

ations such as oil spills and fires at ANI facilities and

assets.

62 informa

BREEDS COMMITMENTawareness62

texto luiz CarloS ramoS fotos FrEd Chalub

Clean Lagoon Program participant Philipe Fernando da Silva: learning to row and preserve nature. Below, Rota das Bandeiras: restoring degraded areas alongside the highway

63informainforma

BREEDS COMMITMENTawareness

Road concession companies carry out programs related to several aspects of the work of environmental preservation

written by riCardo SanGiovanni photos by lia lubambo

64 informa

ach in their own way, Odebrecht Trans-

Port’s highway concessionaires - Rota das

Bandeiras in São Paulo State, Bahia Norte

in Bahia, and Rota dos Coqueiros in Per-

nambuco - have made significant progress

in their efforts to establish a relationship of respect and

care for the environment.

The path chosen by the concessionaire in Pernam-

buco, which operates the coastal route that runs through

Reserva do Paiva and links the city of Recife with the

southern coast of the state, is paved with training courses

and programs in the field that have helped raise environ-

mental awareness among youths, adults and the elderly.

The concession company in Bahia has also taken the

path of investment in grooming community environmen-

tal agents who are engaging in collaborative reforesta-

tion efforts spearheaded by the concessionaire, which

manages the highway system that connects Salvador,

the port of Aratu, the Camaçari Industrial Complex and

seven other municipalities.

Planting seedlings in degraded environments and in

the vicinity of springs in partnership with the govern-

ment and private sector is also the driving force behind

the sustainability programs of the São Paulo concession

company. It manages the Dom Pedro I corridor, a route

that runs through Campinas and 16 more cities in São

Paulo State, a strategic region that has recently become

the country’s largest consumer market.

“If we don’t take care of it, who will?”The concession for the Paiva road system, which in-

cludes the 6.2-km Via Parque route, as well as the cable-

stayed Barra da Jangada bridge, calls for Rota dos Co-

queiros to develop and implement social/environmental

initiatives in two of the municipalities the route traverses

- Jaboatão dos Guararapes and Cabo de Santo Agostinho.

Since June 2011, the concessionaire has sponsored

the Clean Lagoon program, which offers rowing and ca-

noeing lessons along with environmental education to

200 youths between the ages of 12 and 16, from seven

public schools in the region. Classes are held at the estu-

ary of the Jaboatão and Pirapama rivers.

The sports the Clean Lagoon Program offers serve

as an attraction for young people, who not only learn

to row but take classes in how to preserve the environ-

ment. Those lessons cover topics like collecting trash

dumped in the river, planting seedlings and learning the

basics about the importance of water and mangroves

(vital habitats for the reproduction of fish and other local

wildlife).

“We learn to take care of what is ours. If we don’t, who

will?” reflects Philipe Fernando da Silva, a 17-year-old stu-

dent. While taking part in the program for the past year,

between oar strokes he has seen all kinds of things float

down the river - bottles, plastic bags, cans, shoes, clothes,

sofas... “Even the oil filter of a car,” cries one of Philipe’s

classmates. “Look, right here!” another adds, picking it up

with his fingertips, so there is no question about it.

The young participants receive guidelines on how to col-

lect the waste found in the bed and on the banks of the river,

using protective gloves and plastic bags. According to the

program’s coordinators, the average amount of trash re-

moved daily is impressive, ranging between 20 kg and 40 kg.

Indignant at her neighbors’ lack of environmental

awareness, Sandrine Barbosa, 16, says the classes have

given her the courage to approach people when she sees

them disposing of rubbish incorrectly. “Bottles, card-

board...folks just dump them anywhere. I go over and talk

to them, but sometimes they don’t listen,” she says.

E

Businesswoman Maria Aparecida Junqueira Marche on her farm: “Reforesting on my own would have been very costly”

65informa

The courage to educateLosing their fear of approaching people and educat-

ing them when they are polluting the environment is the

challenge facing the 17 community environmental agents

in the first class taking the Route of Life course, a project

created by the concessionaire’s environmental coordina-

tor, Flávia Queiroz, in partnership with artist Diniz Cam-

pos, a sustainability consultant for Reserva do Paiva.

Since February, Flávia and Diniz have taught weekly

classes on the environment to residents of Itapuama, a

town that is next to the southern end of the route. The les-

sons range from recycling to selective collection, seed-

ling planting and methods for approaching people edu-

cationally. Initially intended to end in June, the course has

been so successful that it was extended by two months,

and there are already plans for a second class, at the stu-

dents’ request.

The results are already starting to show. “The other

day, I saw the owner of a beach shack pouring the oil she’d

used to fry fish onto the sand. I called her aside, so as not

to embarrass her, and explained that the right thing to

do is store that oil in a bottle and then bring it here to the

school where we have a suitable collection system,” says

Wellitânia dos Santos, a 35-year-old homemaker who is

also taking the course.

Wellitânia has lived in Itapuama all her life, and she

must have seen people dumping oil on the beach before.

“It’s just that, after taking this course, we’ve started see-

ing how harmful things like that can be,” says one of her

classmates, the craftsman, Francisco Antonio Almeida,

46. He and some students from the group are also taking

part in another project, Roles of Life, run by Diniz, who

teaches his students to make handicrafts from recyclable

materials and manufacture hats and handbags by recy-

cling construction uniforms.

The class really got to work during environment week

in June: in five days, they planted 30 trees on the medians

along the highway, and alerted beachgoers and drivers

at the toll plazas about the need to take care of Nature.

They also distributed biodegradable bags and handed out

10,000 leaflets, each worth one native plant seedling. “All

it takes is for a resident to master the subject of the envi-

ronment to feel ‘empowered’ and become a multiplier of

environmental awareness,” says Diniz.

65informa

66 informa

Living to plantEnvironment week was also a busy time in Bahia.

The Bahia Norte concessionaire held a seminar on envi-

ronmental awareness, recycling and trash collection for

residents of the Cassange neighborhood on the outskirts

of Salvador, next to the Aratu Industrial Complex-Airport

highway (route BA-526).

At the end of last year, the concessionaire held an-

other seminar on methods for planting seedlings for

students at the Federal Institute of Bahia (IFBA) and

residents of the Pitanguinha neighborhood in Camaçari,

in an area that is also near the highway.

After taking the seminar, many of the participants

joined the group of about 80 volunteers who worked

with the Coconut Coast Ecological Corridor Institute (IN-

CECC), an NGO hired by Bahia Norte to plant 5,000 native

seedlings in the 3-ha area of Atlantic Forest where the

institute is located.

The replanting campaign was just the first part of

the concessionaire’s reforestation program to offset the

clearing of some areas because of the work being done

to widen roads and build toll plazas along 123.5 km of

highways. As the concession holder, Bahia Norte is also

responsible for monitoring the water quality of the Ipi-

tanga and Joanes rivers, as well as inheriting about 40

environmental liabilities along the highway’s right of way

that are being resolved as the road-widening works ad-

vance.

“Every project causes some kind of impact, but we

have been taking good care of the environment since

the very start of this project,” explains Bahia Norte

Environment Coordinator Ciro Barbosa. The works on

State Highways BA-535 and BA-093 also involve refor-

esting 30 hectares. Some of the seedling planting will

be done on the roadsides to form a green corridor in

the future.

“I’ve always dreamed of planting trees for a living.

Now, I can say I’m doing just that,” says Álvaro Oyama,

President of INCECC, which is made up of 16 profes-

sionals, including biologists, agronomists, forestry engi-

neeers and veterinarians. Álvaro Oyama is an attorney

specialized in Environmental Law.

One of the people who took the NGO’s seminar

on seedling planting, André Luís dos Santos, 32, has

worked at the IFBA as a gardener for four years and had

never had any formal instruction on planting methods

before. “I’ve learned that you can’t just plant things any

66 informa

Álvaro Oyama: a long-held dream comes true

67informa

old way: you’ve got to press down the earth to squeeze

out the air, and dig around the stem to hold in the water.

I’ve learned to do my job better,” says André, who lives in

the neighborhood.

Looking for available areasEven after planting about 72,000 seedlings in three

years, the Rota das Bandeiras concession company is

looking for more available areas in the densely popu-

lated interior of São Paulo State. After all, the goal is to

reach 300,000 seedlings planted.

The reason these areas are hard to find is that, by law,

seedlings cannot be planted in just any kind of terrain:

the reforested areas must be contiguous with existing

forests or located around springs - called Permanent

Protection Areas (APPs). São Paulo’s environmental

laws are strict: depending on the developmental stage

of the trees felled to build a project, the reforested area

might have to be two or even three times the size of the

area cleared. When native trees are removed in isolated

areas, the law requires replanting 25 new ones.

The alternatives range from restoring and reforest-

ing degraded areas along the highway (one example is

a 1-hectare area alongside a stretch of Pedro I Highway

that was formerly used as a dump site for construction

and has now been planted with 1,550 seedlings) to con-

tacting public managers and farm owners one by one in

the 17 municipalities the road network runs through, in

search of new land to plant.

One such area is located on the campus of the

Campinas Agronomic Institute (IAC), which authorized

the concession company to plant 7.2 hectares with

12,000 seedlings. Another is on a farm owned by busi-

nesswoman Maria Aparecida Junqueira Marche. “For

me, it was wonderful. Reforesting on my own would

have been very expensive,” she says. Planting and

maintenance of each seedling for two years costs an

average of BRL 30 (about USD 15). However, Rota das

Bandeiras was only able to plant 14,500 seedlings on

Maria Aparecida’s land because the project started in

2010 – prior to the new Forest Code, which prohibits

businesses from partnering with private individuals

to reforest land, making life more difficult for farmers

and businesses while slowing down the pace of refor-

estation, which harms the environment.

Mauro Pereira Junior, the concession company’s

environment manager, observes: “Thinking about the

environment means taking care of today better than yes-

terday, while thinking about tomorrow. Much remains to

be done.”

Gardener André Luís dos Santos: “I’ve learned to do my job better”

68 informa68 informa

THE IDEA IS TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Held at the Odebrecht Building in Bahia, the Environmental Education Program shows that major changes on this planet can start with simple measures

written by andré FrutuôSo photos by bEG FiGuEirEdo

elective trash collection, wa-

ter rationing and conserva-

tion of green areas are key

initiatives for realizing the dream of a

sustainable future. It is with this per-

spective - of turning small habits into

major contributions – that the Envi-

ronmental Education Program (PEA),

supported by the Odebrecht Build-

ing Administration Office in Salvador,

Bahia, and Odebrecht Realizações

Imobiliárias (Real Estate Develop-

ments; OR), seeks to “plant” habits

and practices in the minds of children

and young people, Group members

and service providers to ensure that

everyone’s relationship with Nature

becomes eco-friendly.

The PEA is held at the Odebrecht

Building in Salvador, and spearhead-

ed by three partner universities: Área

1, Ruy Barbosa and Unifacs. Created

in 2004, the program receives visits

from 8,000 students per year. Col-

lege students studying Environmental

Engineering, Biology, Management

and Public Relations are working on

the project as interns with their pro-

fessors’ guidance, and applying the

knowledge they have assimilated in

COMMUNITY

68Students from General Dionísio Teixeira School take part in a PEA activity: assimilating sustainable habits and practices

S

69informa

the classroom. The interns run all the

program’s activities while studying

the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Tech-

nology (TEO) on a regular basis.

Paulo Guimarães, from Odebrecht,

is the institutional leader of the PEA.

He observes that, based on TEO, the

interns can absorb a work method

focused on valuing people. “They are

not only acquiring a professional edu-

cation by means of Education through

Work but are being groomed to work

as a team and foster and value life.”

The PEA is divided into five sub-

programs: Eco-Trail, Prosper, Com-

municate, Proger and Green Building.

Leonardo Luz, the leader of the team

of interns, took on the challenge of

learning about the more than 50 spe-

cies of plants on the Eco-Trail, a frag-

ment of Atlantic Forest covering an

approximately 40,000 sq.m area that

contains six thematic stations: Water,

Wildlife, Waste, Bees, Composting

and Plant Life.

Classified as a Green Building,

Odebrecht’s headquarters in Sal-

vador was the first in the North/

Northeast of Brazil to be certified as

a Sustainable Building. It serves as a

practical example that enables En-

gineering and Architecture students

to see that it is possible to invest in

alternatives that enhance social and

economic development, in line with

environmental conservation.

The Communicate sub-program

updates the website and provides in-

formation to visiting schools. Proger

seeks to sensitize everyone who

works at the office about the im-

portance of the proper disposal and

recycling of solid waste. Prospera

focuses on grooming environmen-

tal multipliers who, after visiting the

Eco-Trail, receive guidelines on how

to develop environmental initiatives

in their communities.

“Previously, we didn’t have any-

where to park our cars, and some-

times we had to cancel classes

because there was a foul stench

coming in from the road in front of

the school,” recalls Cândida Tai-

ara, who teaches at Paulo VI Parish

Municipal School in Salvador’s Pau

Miúdo community. According to the

schoolteacher, the PEA has helped

residents understand the need for

selective trash collection, and they

are now aware that the sidewalk

is not the appropriate place to dis-

pose of garbage.

Another highlight of the PEA

is that it gives interns an oppor-

tunity to become members of the

Odebrecht Group. This was the

case with Ulysses Santos, who is

now working at OR as a member

of the company’s Sustainability

team. “We come here as diamonds

in the rough, and we are polished

through the PEA, learning to turn

difficulties into opportunities,” he

observes.

Interns responsible for educational activities at the PEA: from left, Fernando Pires, Natália Naomi, Allana Gomes, Leonardo Barros, Paula Santos and Elínia Oliveira

69informa

70 informa

written by ElEa almEida photos by Júlio bitEnCourt

LINE OF

defenseA decontamination system based on the use of geobags is a highlight of the Embraport Terminal project

70Geobags: an alternative that benefits the environment and the bottom line

71informa

72 informa

ocated on the left bank of the Port of

Santos, São Paulo, Embraport is an Ode-

brecht TransPort venture, in partnership

with DP World and Coimex, that includes

the construction and operation of a mul-

tipurpose port terminal. When completed, it will have

a total area of 850,000 sq.m and the capacity to handle

2 million TEUs (a unit equivalent to one 20-foot con-

tainer) and 2 billion liters of bulk liquid products.

Thanks to the construction methods used and the

additional capacity the port terminal will provide to the

Port of Santos, Embraport has been included in The

100 Most Innovative and Inspiring Urban Infrastructure

Projects in the World, a publication produced by the

KPMG consulting firm and launched in July of this year

at the Cities Summit in Singapore.

One of the features that sets this project apart is the

use of sustainable building solutions, such as geobags.

Odebrecht Infraestrutura (Infrastructure), the contrac-

tor responsible for building the terminal, adopted this

technology while dredging 580,000 cu.m of contaminat-

ed solid materials from the sea access channel located

in front of the terminal - a liability that had been present

in that area since the middle of the last century.

At first, the plans for the project called for pumping

the dredged materials to another site for drying, but the

frequent rainfall in the region put paid to that idea. The

conventional solution would have been to transport the

material to a landfill, which would have required approx-

imately 70,000 truck trips, according to the contractor’s

calculations. The solution to this logistical impasse also

proved to be more eco-friendly: implementing a decon-

tamination and containment system for the dredged

materials using the geobags technology - large cylin-

drical bags made of geosynthetic fabric, with a storage

capacity of 2,300 cu.m. per unit.

“This is an environmentally appropriate solution

because it removes contaminated material from the

estuary and contains it safely in an area where it can

be used in the final stage of the project,” explains Pro-

duction Manager Giorgio Bullaty Neto.

The system involves the flocculation treatment

and containment of solid waste in 169 geobags. The

dredged material is mixed with a polymer that con-

solidates it and prevents it from seeping out through

the pores in the bags. The water is drained out and

pumped to a treatment station, where it undergoes a

process of aeration and pH balancing before being re-

turned to the estuary.

After receiving appropriate treatment, the water is

returned to the sea, and the contaminated material is

stored at the terminal’s cargo yard in the form of solid

waste. “We have demonstrated that we can carry out a

project of this magnitude with a minimal impact on the

environment. Not only that, but we have improved the

situation in the surrounding area by implementing this

project,” says Giorgio Bullaty.

The filled geobags occupy a 170,000 sq.m area, and

will be used as the basis for reclaiming land to build a

container yard. Without the containment system, the

L

73informa

In addition to treating sewage, the STPs built at the

jobsite are intended to reduce the amount of treated

water used for other purposes. For example, treated

wastewater can be used to flush toilets. All told, the

three treatment stations process around 250,000 liters

per month. To remove excess impurities, Odebrecht

has created “WetLands” that provide additional treat-

ment by filtering wastewater through rocks in a tank

where plants absorb excess nitrogen and phosphorus.

After that stage, the treated effluent is disposed of in

a body of water.

The three SWTPs have a total treatment capacity of

300,000 liters of storm water. Gravity takes the water

to storage tanks before it is sent to the plants. After

treatment, it is stored in elevated tanks and used in

activities such as washing floors and cars, as well as

wetting down roads.

A color-coded system is used in pipelines and stor-

age tanks, identifying recycled water from the STPs,

storm water from the SWTPs, and drinking water with

different colors. Also, the recycled water is dyed blue

in the tanks to identify its source. To ensure the quality

of the process, frequent reports are issued on the ap-

proximately 550,000 liters processed every month.

The initiative has also received outside recognition.

In August, the terminal construction site garnered an

award from the American Chamber of Commerce in

Rio de Janeiro at the 8th Environmental Brazil Prize.

Odebrecht won in the “Rational Use of Water Resourc-

es” category for a paper titled “Sustainable Jobsite:

Applying Environmental Education in Construction

Projects.”

The innovative and environmentally responsible so-

lutions adopted on the terminal project have contrib-

uted to the smooth progress of the work. By December

2012, Odebrecht expects to deliver the following stages

within the scope of the contract for the first phase of

the project: 350 m of the quay, a 50,000-sq.m yard for

general cargo storage, an overpass and the admin-

istrative area for the terminal. The first phase will be

completed by October 2013, totaling 650 m of the quay

and a 207,000-sq.m operational yard, with installed ca-

pacity for handling 1.2 TEUs per year and 2 billion liters

of bulk liquid products. The start date for the second

phase has not been set. It will include the extension

of the quay to 1,100 m, and the expansion of the cargo

yard to 342,000 sq.m.

same amount of earth would have had to be removed

from deposits and transported to the site.

Giorgio Bullaty stresses that this is the first time

geobags have been used on a project like this. He be-

lieves that it will serve as an example for other jobsites.

“This system makes it possible to build major projects

without directly impacting the environment at a time

when Brazil needs to create and develop infrastructure

facilities,” he argues.

Using less treated waterIn addition to a treatment plant for the water drained

from the large geobags, the Embraport project also

has three STPs (sewage treatment plants) and three

SWTPs (storm water treatment plants) at its disposal.

Due to the location of the port terminal, bringing in

treated drinking water was a complex task.

Reynaldo Pincette Filho, the Administrative-Finan-

cial Manager for the project, says that one of the first

options studied was digging artesian wells, but the

idea had to be dropped when they only found salt water.

Therefore, the short-term solution was bringing water

in on barges. The suggestion to implement a treatment

system to recycle water and utilize storm water was

well received, especially because it afforded an oppor-

tunity to sensitize company members about the use of

natural resources. “The entire program was created to

cut down on the amount of treated water used, while

doing our duty in regard to educating our members,”

says Pincette.

Giorgio Bullaty Neto: Brazil needs to create and develop eco-friendly infrastructure

informa 73

74 informa

UNDERSTANDING WHAT MATTERS: PEOPLE

“What gives me the most satisfaction is seeing people who have worked with me grow, and take on more responsibilities”

statement given to válbEr Carvalho edited by aliCE GalEFFi photo by holanda CavalCanti

ased on strict discipline and

dedication, Antônio Carlos

Daiha Blando’s career be-

gan at the Military Institute of En-

gineering (IME). In 1985, he joined

Odebrecht, where he found an

environment that surprised him.

“What impressed me most was the

simplicity, humility and accessibili-

ty of the people at the head of an or-

ganization as large as Odebrecht.”

Now the CEO for Engineering and

Construction at Odebrecht Energia

(Energy), in this interview for the

Savvy Project, Daiha relates how

his upbringing, the discipline of

military school and years of expe-

rience at Odebrecht have given him

the tools to grow and enhance the

art of being what he describes as

an “educational leader-achiever.”

The following are excerpts from

his interview. You can watch the

entire video on the Odebrecht In-

forma website (www.odebrechton-

line.com.br)

Family, studies and finding OdebrechtMy father is the son of an Italian

immigrant who came to Brazil after

World War I and lived and worked

here as a shoeshine boy and lottery

ticket seller. My grandmother was

a laundress who couldn’t read or

write. My father, an only child, got

into Medical School. My mother is

the daughter of Syrian-Lebanese

immigrants. I had a very strict up-

bringing, and got used to reading

and studying.

I managed to pass the entrance

exams for the IME, where we un-

derwent rigorous trials, working

hard with strict supervision, and I

served in the military at the same

time. After I graduated, I stayed in

the Army and was sent to Recife to

take a course. While there, I had

the opportunity to get to know the

Odebrecht team building the Re-

cife Metro. Right then, I realized I

wanted to work for this company.

What impressed me most was the

simplicity, humility and accessibil-

ity of the people who were at the

head of such a large company.

First flightA friend of my father introduced

me to Renato Baiardi, who was

then the Odebrecht CEO for Brazil.

My first job for the company was a

mine project in Minas Gerais. I was

a hick. I had never flown on a com-

mercial airliner before. The first

flight I took was from Rio to Belo

Horizonte to start working at Ode-

brecht. I spent six months on that

project, where I met Paulo Sá, a

great teacher, and began to under-

stand the company. I realized the

crucial role of Project Directors.

That became my dream: working

as a Project Director.

Educational leader-achieverIn Recife, I worked with Ariel

Parente Costa, the person who had

the greatest influence on my edu-

cation. Ariel invested a good part

of his time in getting to know his

team members, how they lived,

what their expectations were, what

they expected from life and the or-

ganization. Based on that knowl-

edge, he tried to help them. He was

a true educational leader-achiever.

He got people to do what he ex-

“I’ve done a lot of observing, and I’ve learned that everything we do is through people. They are the beginning, middle and end of all things”

Daiha Blando

SAVVY

B

75informa

pected of them without having to ask.

They did it out of admiration, affec-

tion; out of respect, or for whatever

reason. I then realized that a leader is

someone who has followers.

“I’m not giving you a project, I’m giving you a client”When I arrived in Venezuela to

work on the construction of the Ca-

racas Metro, Euzenando Azevedo,

Odebrecht’s CEO in that country, told

me something that was perhaps my

most important lesson in the 11 years

I spent there: “Daiha, I’m not giving

you a project, I’m giving you a client.

Don’t just think about your project;

take good care of your client. The

project is for a 6-km [metro] line, but

your client has 100 km more to build.”

And so I did my best to get to know

my client well. I visited him almost

every day, and established a strong

relationship with him, so whenever

he had a project, when anything came

up, he’d give us a call.

LegacyMy entire life with the Group has

been based on people. I’ve done a lot

of observing, and I’ve learned that

everything we do is through people.

They are the beginning, middle and

end of all things. I’ve learned from

my leaders and my team members.

What gives me the most satisfaction

is seeing the people who’ve worked

with me grow, take on more respon-

sibilities and become Project Direc-

tors and even CEOs.

Antônio Carlos Daiha Blando: the talent and

motivation to learn and

teach

76 informa

MEASURE OF

76

written by milton GérSon photos by riCardo ChavES

hanks to the extension of North Line

1, Trensurb, the commuter train sys-

tem that serves Greater Porto Alegre

in the southern Brazilian state of Rio

Grande do Sul, will be reaching Novo

Hamburgo, a traditional hub of the nation’s leather-

footwear industry, by the end of 2012. All told, the

project will add five new stations and over 9.3 km

of tracks, but a major highlight is the environmen-

tally sustainable programs involving communities

affected by the works that Via Nova, a joint venture

led by Odebrecht Infraestrutura (Infrastructure), is

carrying out in that region.

“Speaking about the environment means speaking

about the preservation of life,” argues Dirceu Nunes Fer-

nandes, the Workplace Safety and Environment manag-

er for Trensurb, the client for this project, which includes

the implementation of 16 environmental programs.

Odebrecht Infraestrutura Project Director Nilton

Coelho highlights one of the innovations: building sub-

way and road bridges across the Sinos River without any

piers, which eliminated the need to dam the waterway.

“We recycled the water in the manufacturing process for

concrete pieces and used metal formwork, generating

a savings of 4,600 cu.m of wood and the preservation of

approximately 17,000 trees.”

The main programs directly related to the communi-

ties are tree replacement and the sustainable resettle-

ment of 214 families who used to live in Vila dos Tocos, a

slum in São Leopoldo (a town that Trensurb had already

reached in a previous stage of the project, neighboring

on Novo Hamburgo in the metropolitan region of the

Tprotection

77informa

On the Trensurb works in Greater Porto Alegre, the sustainable resettlement of families eliminates social and environmental risks

state capital of Rio Grande do Sul), where Rio dos Sinos Station is

now fully operational.

“The joint venture built housing in the Brás III and Padre Orestes

subdivisions in the vicinity of the station, and that has changed these

families’ lives. Until recently they had lived in a situation of complete

social and environmental vulnerability,” says Edson Carlos Ferreira

dos Santos, the President of Trensurb’s Special Coordinator for Stra-

tegic Projects and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Community leader Pedro Nunes has moved into a 45-sq.m home

after living in a shack for the last 40 years, and expanded his bicycle

protection Trensurb train in São Leopoldo: residents who lived in rickety shacks have moved to safe locations

78 informa

workshop. He is clearly in a mood to celebrate: “Busi-

ness has improved 300%.”

No families were resettled in Novo Hamburgo. “There

weren’t any slums on the bed of the railway,” says José

Luis Campos de Souza, the joint venture’s officer Re-

sponsible for Workplace Safety and Environment. “The

priority was transferring 52 protected trees like the Bra-

zilian coral and fig trees and jerivá and pindo palms, in

addition to compensatory planting of 12,600 seedlings,

mostly along city sidewalks.”

Wastewater treatmentBourscheid Engenharia e Meio Ambiente S.A., a

partner company, has followed up on the project’s en-

vironmental management since the permits were is-

sued. The measures taken to control, prevent and re-

duce environmental impacts include the deployment of

a wastewater treatment system at the concrete factory.

“The water used to wash concrete mixer trucks is recy-

cled to fabricate new concrete pieces, and is also used

in the restrooms, to flush the toilets,” says agronomist

Mirella Dias Machado, Bourscheid’s representative on

the project.

She also emphasizes the monitoring, drainage and

channeling of natural waterways on the route of the ex-

tension works, such as the Sinos River and two creeks,

Gauchinho in São Leopoldo, and Luiz Rau in Novo Ham-

burgo. “The community is already benefiting because

these works have reduced flooding during the rainy sea-

son,” she observes.

Mirella also explains that, since the inception of the

contract in 2009, the work fronts have generated 61.6

metric tons of recyclable waste, which is stored in bins

and dumpsters according to the type of trash in question

(plastic, metal, paper, glass and batteries) and taken to a

facility at the main jobsite that ensures they are disposed

of properly. “The entire process is overseen by represen-

tatives of the departments of the environment of both cit-

ies,” she stresses.

Darci Zanini, the Secretary of the Environment of São

Leopoldo, points out the “social and environmental mag-

nitude” of the work being done. He also observes that it

is solving the region’s mobility problems with a transpor-

tation system that is among the most advanced in the

world in terms of sustainability.

Karina Romariz Batista, the Novo Hamburgo Depart-

ment of the Environment’s Environmental Protection Di-

rector, stresses the construction of Praça Novo Nações,

a park that opened in 2010. In addition to offering recre-

ational and sports facilities, it is home to 14 jerivá palms,

a pindo palm and a fig tree transplanted there from the

construction site. “Follow-up and monitoring allow us to

give the community answers to the questions that arise

when they see trees being removed,” she observes.

Edson Carlos Ferreira dos Santos: a leading role in the process of relocating families

78 informa

79informa

GROWING A

79

written by Eduardo Souza lima photos by CarloS Júnior

beachhe amazing shrinking beach is now grow-

ing and gaining shape: “When I saw the

plan on paper, I thought what we would

be restoring was a strip of sand the

size of Ipanema. But this has become a

beach the size of Copacabana!” Marilene Ramos, Chair

of the State Environmental Institute (INEA), an agency

of the Rio de Janeiro State Department of Environment,

could not hide her enthusiasm when she visited the

Odebrecht Infraestrutura works in August. The Sepe-

tiba Beach Environmental Rehabilitation Project has

left the drawing board and is now a reality, restoring

a 2-km stretch of sand, with some sections that are as

much as 500 m wide.

This expanse of seacoast in the West Zone of Rio

de Janeiro experienced its heyday in the 1970s, when

it attracted thousands of tourists on weekends. The

environment in that area had already begun to suffer,

but the process of degradation increased markedly

TThe restoration of the strip of sand in

Sepetiba is the first stage in the

district’s complete revitalization

Revitalizing Sepetiba

Beach: boosting the local

community’s self-esteem and identity

80 informa

from the 1990s onward, when sludge began covering

the sand and the beach became a massive swamp.

“We used to make our living from the beach. I sold

juice there as a vendor until 1993. After that, it was

impossible,” recalls Sérgio Pinto, a native of Nova

Iguaçu who adopted the neighborhood 30 year ago.

Sérgio is a member of the Sepetiba Rehabilitation

Committee (CORES), an NGO that has given voice to

local residents’ demands for the past 12 years. But

now, he says it is even possible to catch shrimp near

the shore. Herons and other birds are also return-

ing; vacationers, likewise. “On Sundays, from 2 pm

onwards, there are 5,000 or 6,000 people here,” he

guarantees.

Transplanting mangrove seedlingsOdebrecht Infraestrutura began restoring the area

in September 2010. The results can already be felt,

not only there but also some 70 km away, in Fundão

Channel - a native mangrove that was dying out until

seedlings from the mangrove that had invaded Sepe-

tiba were transplanted there. This, incidentally, was

the first stage of the project, a massive undertaking

coordinated by biologist Mario Moscatelli. His team

replanted seedlings in the vicinity of Fundão, and re-

located fiddler crabs to Morro do Radar, in the same

region. They were gathered by hand, one at a time.

“We were able to transplant about 70% of the man-

grove, instead of simply removing it. In another era, it

would probably have been entirely covered over,” says

Moscatelli. “The recovery project for Fundão Channel

was going on at the same time, so the two projects

were mutually beneficial. The Sepetiba mangrove was

key to the restoration of the channel,” he adds.

Because the beach is located in the innermost part

of a bay, where there is little water transfer, Sepetiba

is a natural repository for detritus - and some con-

sider the mud accumulated in its bed to be medicinal.

However, human interference has accelerated this

process. “The mangrove is an indicator of the silting

process. The rivers that flowed into the bay used to

be sinuous, which prevented residue from building up.

But when they were channeled, they became natural

barriers,” explains Mario Moscatelli.

The beach is back: more people are visiting Sepetiba, particularly on weekends, and birds and fish are returning. Below, the dredging operation

81informa

The residue is called silt, a mixture of clay and

sandy sediment. Wastewater from organic sewage

further aggravated the problem. “There is a natural

process that humans accelerate with pollution and

disorderly occupation. Unfortunately, the public is not

aware that a swamp is vegetation, and they treat it like

a garbage dump. Not to mention that it is harder to

clean a swamp than a beach,” says Project Director

Marcos Saliveros. The environmental damage was

considerable: in addition to driving out the native plant

and animal life, the degraded habitat attracted ver-

min, including rats and cockroaches. And then there

was the stench.

The region’s 40,000 residents can now celebrate

the first benefits of the project. “This here used to

be the recreation area for the West Zone. I was born

in Marechal Hermes and came here as a kid, when I

was 10 years old, to live with my grandfather. Today, I

am overjoyed to see it coming back to life,” says re-

tired soldier Roberto Valentim, 56, also a member of

CORES.

The sludge was kept in place with geosynthetic fab-

ric, which in turn was covered with sand. It is the same

method used to build roads and railways on wetlands.

“The plan calls for the beach to have an 80-m strip

that the swamp will never reach, ever again,” says

Marcos Saliveros. Most of the sand used was extract-

ed with dredges from underwater deposits in Sepetiba

Bay, located up to 4.5 km from the coast.

The rehabilitation of the beach is the first step

in the project to revitalize the entire neighborhood,

which also includes creating recreational areas such

as playing courts, and deploying a cleaning plan.

Now that the beach has been restored, it is also up to

the public to take care of it so they can go on to en-

joy further achievements – for example, the water is

still unfit for swimming. “I bought my house 17 years

ago, when I got married. I’ve raised my children and

am raising my grandchildren here. Sepetiba will once

again become the West Zone’s beach. But for that to

happen, local residents must do their part. That is

why environmental education is so important,” says

Valentim.

Retired soldier Roberto Valentim: “Sepetiba will once again become the West Zone’s beach”

82 informa

Tree planting and recyclng help ensure a better quality of life for communities in Viana, in the Luanda metropolitan region

82

written by Eliana SimonEtti photos by GuilhErmE aFonSo

fresh air

83informa

Gardener João Domingos in the nursery: 12,000 seedlings planted by the end of 2012

n the Kimbundu language, one of 50 spoken in

Angola, zango means “gathering.” It is also the

name of the district in Viana, a town in the Luan-

da metropolitan region, where the Populations

Rehousing Program (PRP) is underway. Begun in

2001, it is generating about 3,000 work opportunities.

Odebrecht alone has built more than 15,000 houses

for families who used to live in at-risk neighborhoods

on the outskirts of Luanda and areas affected by the

city’s urban renewal plan – a range of projects that are

rapidly changing the face of Luanda.

The Zango neighborhood has been growing non-

stop ever since. It isn’t easy to calculate how many

people live there now, but it is estimated to have more

than 100,000 residents. The original houses, each

with a built area of 60 sq.m, three bedrooms, a liv-

ing room, kitchen and bathroom, are often adapted

and expanded to house extended families, including

grandparents, children, nieces and nephews, and

grandchildren.

The community has garbage collection, water,

electricity, schools, a bank, policing, markets, public

health clinics and other services. There will always

be room for improvement, but the people who live in

Zango realize that moving there has broadened their

horizons. It has brought new hope and provided a bet-

ter quality of life.

The sea of houses that make up the neighbor-

hood is an impressive sight for any visitor. The red-

ness of the soil that characterizes that part of Luanda

strikes the eye in that flat terrain. The region was de-

forested centuries ago. It is important to plant trees

there, greening the land between the houses so there

is shade, flowers can bloom, and everything is that

much more beautiful.

A plant nursery at the project’s jobsite is help-

ing make this happen. It has already produced over

6,000 tree seedlings of various species that have been

planted in front of houses and in public areas. The

goal, however, is even more ambitious: doubling the

number of trees planted by the end of this year, in-

cluding public spaces like parks and gardens. To en-

sure their survival, each resident is tasked with caring

for a sapling.

“You have to water them in the morning and af-

ternoon,” explains Zango resident João Domingos,

the gardener who takes care of the nursery. Because

I

83informa

84 informa

these lessons are taught through lectures given at lo-

cal schools, 8,000 children are already caring for the

trees that, in a not too distant future, will transform

the streets of Zango into flowered boulevards.

To increase the work opportunities available to

families that now live in Zango, Odebrecht has de-

ployed Acreditar (Believe), the Group’s Ongoing Pro-

fessional Education Program, as well as sponsoring

other educational initiatives, including the Zango

Socio-Professional Center (CESA), run by the Ango-

lan Congregation of Salesian Sisters. CESA has also

partnered with Kambas do Bem (a group formed by

Odebrecht Angola members’ families that does vol-

unteer work in that country) and the Training Cen-

ter of the Angolan Ministry of Public Administration,

Employment and Security (MAPESS) to help produce

more sources of income and access to job skills.

Since August of last year, in the context of sustain-

ability programs, the project has collected discarded

cooking oil from the cafeteria that a cooperative of

Zango residents uses to make soap. The cooking oil

is stored in 20-liter containers. Run by Ramos Ber-

nardo, this project ensures a weekly supply of three

containers of oil to the cooperative. Ramos Bernar-

do, who was a schoolteacher during the war and has

worked at Odebrecht since 2007, is pleased with the

results. But not as pleased as Noé Sacassueca, 65.

After growing cassava and maize in Zango before

that area became the huge neighborhood it is today,

he was pretty discouraged about the future. Then,

in 2011, he took a course offered by Odebrecht, and

his outlook changed. He brought together a group of

women and organized the cooperative, which is now

made up of 12 families.

The formula is simple: oil, water and caustic soda.

Plus elbow grease to stir the ingredients until they

thicken. The liquid is poured into wood trays, where

it is left to dry and then cut up into bars. Nothing is

wasted, not even the leftover soap flakes and bars

that aren’t evenly sliced. They are grated, pounded

into a powder with a mortar and pestle, and then

bagged. “Our production is still small, but orders are

not lacking,” says Noé. Other Odebrecht projects in

the Luanda region are also being organized to find

Noé Sacassueca is happy to show off some of the soap the cooperative has produced: generating incomes for 12 families

85informa

more ways for Zango cooperatives to recycle the

cooking oil discarded from the company’s kitchens.

Recycling tiresThis is a drive sponsored by Odebrecht to simul-

taneously raise the community’s awareness about

the benefits of recycling and improve their quality of

life. In Zango there is also a cooperative made up of

40 people who make brooms from PET bottles. An-

other, composed of 60 women, produces handicrafts

using a variety of materials. And there’s more: 100

people, in three different classes, are taking an en-

trepreneurship course to learn how to manage small

businesses.

Something similar is also going on in an area not

far from there, in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE),

also located in Viana: a project in which Odebrecht

has taken charge of installing infrastructure to fa-

cilitate industrial operations. The Community Micro-

Entrepreneur Tire Recycling Program is being car-

ried out within the sphere of that project. “We have

selected some people who have the skills and cre-

ativity required to multiply this knowledge,” explains

social worker Telma Marisa da Silva Handa. “After

all, we need to recycle tires used on the project and

many others that would otherwise be dumped in the

streets and neighborhoods of this city,” she adds.

Evaristo Carlos Benjamim is 40 years old and has

seven children and two grandchildren. Born in An-

gola’s Moxico Province, he moved to Luanda with his

family during the war in search of security and a way

to make a living. In the army, he handled food stor-

age logistics. Years later, after he was discharged, he

joined an NGO dedicated to caring for children suf-

fering from war trauma. That was where he learned

to make paper handicrafts and developed a knack for

dealing with people. With these assets, Benjamim

forged ahead. This is what happened next:

Six years ago, he joined Odebrecht as an admin-

istrative assistant, became responsible for general

services, and then took charge of the warehouse be-

fore reaching his current position as a social worker.

That’s what he does on weekdays. On weekends he

has another activity: on Saturdays and Sundays, after

church, he makes furniture and other items from used

tires. And he teaches his craft to a class of 7 young

people. “We make things to order, but we also strive

to hone our skills. To make something we must first

design and create it, and this is an essential step that

I teach my students. We must also be careful and pay

attention to safety, since we have to handle knives in

this activity,” says Evaristo. They make chairs, tables,

vases, bowls, sandals, toys, gifts... Benjamim can cre-

ate whatever you can imagine from rubber tires. Even

hats, he says - although he prefers headgear made

from leather or fabric.

Products made from used tires: an opportunity for work and income

85informa

86 informa86 informa

86

aldete “Dete” do Nascimento, 47, does

not complain about her busy routine.

She wakes up at 5:30 am and starts

her day. First, she makes breakfast

and lunch. Then she goes to her farm,

where she works until the late afternoon, taking care of

her palm plantation, which produces hearts-of-palm,

and her fish farm. She then returns home and does the

housework, taking a break from time to time to watch

TV. Preferably, Brazil’s popular novelas.

A resident of the Mata do Sossego Settlement in the

Southern Bahia Lowlands county of Igrapiúna, she is

driven by work. “I’ll never stop or slow down. My life has

always been this way. I’m guaranteeing my survival,”

she says. For example, she has started participating

in the Payment for Environmental Services Program

(PSA), through which she helps preserve the environ-

ment. “I’m going to start reforesting my property, main-

ly around two springs that I have here. I decided to help

them so they don’t dry up.”

The PSA is run by the Land Conservation Organiza-

tion (OCT), an institution that is part of the Program for

the Development and Growth Integrated with Sustain-

ability of the Southern Bahia Lowlands Mosaic of Envi-

ronmental Protection Areas (PDCIS), promoted by the

Odebrecht Foundation, the government, civil society

and private institutions. This initiative enables the plant-

ing and maintenance of native Atlantic Forest plants in

Permanent Preservation Areas for a 24-month period

at no cost to the owners. Dete has chosen this path, and

has already started planting. “I’m doing my best to get

good results. Everyone in the settlement supports this

program,” she says, clearly pleased.

According to Volney Fernandes, the Leader of the

OCT Cooperative Alliance for Environmental Services,

who is also working towards a Master’s degree in Bio-

diversity Conservation and Sustainable Development,

his institution considers the recovery of degraded areas

and springs a priority for ensuring that the flows of life

– a term that includes the soil, water, flora and fauna,

humans and their businesses - are balanced. “We want

to establish an economy in the Pratigi Environmental

Protection Area (APA) communities that is in harmony

with the environment, thereby promoting environmen-

tal services: water, carbon and biodiversity,” he says.

Dete Nascimento is going even further. While be-

coming a water producer, she is also planting a one-

hectare area with a variety of crops, such as cocoa,

rubber and fruit trees, a method known as the Agro-

forestry System (SAF). The OCT is providing technical

and financial support in partnership with the Regional

Development and Action Company (CAR), an agency

of the State of Bahia. The Brazilian Biodiversity Fund

(FUNBIO), the Executive Planning Commission for Co-

coa Farming (CEPLAC) and the Brazilian Agricultural

Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) have also joined

forces, conducting research that identifies plants suit-

able for cultivation in the Pratigi APA, which covers five

Bahian counties: Igrapiúna, Ituberá, Ibirapitanga, Piraí

do Norte and Nilo Peçanha.

“The SAF is included free of charge, providing a

means of ensuring a source of income for each family

unit. It serves as a quid pro quo for farmers who set

aside part of their land to preserve native vegetation,”

says Volney Fernandes. He adds that the ongoing work

at the APA will result in a model that can be replicated

Restoring degraded areas and springs in the Southern Bahia Lowlands harmonizes the flows of life

LIvING IN

written by GabriEla vaSConCElloS photos by FErnando vivaS

equilibrium

V

87informainforma

Dete Nascimento and one of the protected springs on her property: “I decided to help them so they don’t dry up”

88 informa

Reforesting degraded areas in the Pratigi APA: a sustainable future is being born

in other regions. “It will be possible to gain scale by us-

ing existing public policies, making it natural to have

access to resources that are available in other regions,”

he explains. For Dete, this is yet another opportunity to

collaborate with the environment. “We receive guide-

lines on how to cultivate crops while protecting the

soil,” she says.

In addition to her activities on the farm, Dete still

finds time to study. Last year, she graduated from the

Youth House State High School, a teaching unit that is

part of the PDCIS and also located in Igrapiúna. The

farmer is clearly interested in planning the future of

the forests around her. “What we are doing today is im-

portant for the present and future. I know we need to

preserve the environment now so we don’t suffer the

consequences later, like running out of water. I’ll leave

the rest to fate.”

Everyone’s concernAccording to Volney Fernandes, the OCT focuses

on activities that contribute to the reforestation of the

Pratigi APA, fostering the creation of ecological cor-

ridors that will link up forest fragments in the Central

Corridor of the Atlantic Forest, an area ranging from

Bahia to the neighboring state of Espírito Santo. “We

have an annual deforestation rate of about 700 hect-

ares in the region. We need to reverse that trend,” he

observes.

Jeovan Nascimento, 41, hopes this will be the case.

Like Dete, he cares about the environment. “My chil-

dren and grandchildren need to know what a forest is,”

says the farmer, who lives in the Juliana community, in

Piraí do Norte county. Jeovan is also restoring a spring.

“When my father came here, he found a devastated re-

gion. He made a pasture, but raising cattle isn’t profit-

able here because it rains too much. When this oppor-

tunity arose through OCT, he let us use those areas and

get down to work,” he says.

On Jeovan’s family farm, in addition to restoring the

spring, they are also planting an SAF and engaging in

forestry, another OCT strategy to reduce deforestation

which encourages people to plant eucalyptus trees to

meet the demand for wood in the region. “I want to use

these different crops to increase our income and start

my own business,” says Jeovan, who currently works as

a day laborer on someone else’s farm.

Environmental engineer Bruno Matta, OCT’s Envi-

ronmental Conservation Leader, feels a sense of sat-

isfaction because farmers are realizing that there are

ways of using the land that does not degrade the soil.

“This is a major achievement,” he says. “We are work-

ing to recover springs, deploy and promote agroforestry

systems, and encourage timber production to meet the

demand in this region, thereby cutting down on defor-

estation. This will lead us build up an economy that is in

harmony with the environment,” he argues.

89informa

Next issue:Important milestones in 2012

Founded in 1944,

Odebrecht is a Brazilian

organization made up of

diversified businesses with

global operations and

world-class standards of

quality. Its 160,000 members

are present in the Americas,

the Caribbean, Africa, Asia

and Europe.

reSPONSIbLe FOr cOrPOrAte cOMMUNIcAtION At cONStrUtOrA NOrbertO Odebrecht S.A. Márcio Polidoro

reSPONSIbLe FOr PUbLIcAtIONS PrOGrAMS At cONStrUtOrA NOrbertO Odebrecht S.A. Karolina Gutiez

bUSINeSS AreA cOOrdINAtOrS Nelson Letaif Chemicals & Petrochemicals | Andressa Saurin Ethanol & Sugar | Bárbara Nitto Oil & Gas | Daelcio Freitas Environmental Engineering | Sergio Kertész Real Estate Developments | Antonio Carlos de Faria Infrastructure & Transport | Josiane Costa Energy| Letícia Natívio Industrial Engineering | Herman Nass Shipbuilding Coordinator at Odebrecht Foundation Vivian Barbosa

edItOrIAL cOOrdINAtION Versal Editores editor-in-chief José Enrique Barreiroexecutive editor Cláudio Lovato Filho english translation H. Sabrina GledhillArt and Graphic Production Rogério NunesIllustrations Karmo and Adilson SeccoPhoto editor Holanda Cavalcanti English Edition Coordinator & Electronic Publishing Maria Celia Olivieri

Printing 700 copies | Pre-Press and Printing Pancrom

edItOrIAL OFFIceS Rio de Janeiro +55 21 2239-4023 | São Paulo +55 11 3641- 4743email: versal@versal.com.br

Originally published in Portuguese. Also available in Spanish.

90 informa

“People must love and respect nature,

and help keep it in balance”

TEO (Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology)

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